Tags: North Korea, Satellite Launch, Japan
Publication: VOANews.com
Publication Date: 12/08/2012

March 28, 2012 DigitalGlobe image of North Korea’s Tongchang-ri Launch Facility on the nation’s northwest coast. Image credit: DigitalGlobe

North Korea announced it plans to delay the launch of a long-range rocket to orbit a satellite originally scheduled to take off between December 10 and 22, 2012. According to official sources, the delay is due to problems in the process but no specifics were given.

Analysts speculate that the delay is caused by international pressure. Japan said it is deploying its missile defense system in preparation for North Korea’s rocket launch. Japanese television aired images of three Aegis destroyers armed with SM-3 missile interceptors headed to the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, according to reports. The nation threatened to shoot down the North Korean missile if it goes off course.

Japan and most of the rest of the world is very skeptic of the purpose of the launch, saying it is a disguised missile test, banned under U.N. sanctions.

Other analysts are blaming heavy snow for the delay. According to the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, new satellite imagery suggests that preparations at the Sohai satellite launch station are moving slowly now, as opposed to previous months.

The launch could be pushed back as far away as December 29.

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