This post is from April 2010. Facts and links may have changed since. See more from that month

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1-year Anniversary of U'nha-2 Launch

Today is April 5, 2010, the one year anniversary of North Korea’s failed attempt to launch a satellite into orbit. Depending on how you count them, this was either the DPRK’s second or third attempt to launch a satellite. (I favor calling it the third satellite attempt but, as fellow-wonk contributor Josh Pollack points out, North Korea only claimed it was a missile launch.) We have had numerous discussions of the U’nha-2 launch and, I am sure since I have more to say, we will have many more. What I am most interested, however, is the July 4th 2006 launch. I would love to know what that missile looked like. Apparently, the US government knows, presumably because they photographed it on its launch pad. I don’t suppose I can convince them to publish an image of that missile. If they did, we could learn a great deal about how the DPRK is developing their missiles. But perhaps some privately owned hi-res satellite took an image of it, much like they did with the U’nha-2. If they did, please, please, please publish it. (I will have more to say about the implications of knowing what the 2006 “Tae’podong-2” looked like later.)

Geoff Forden

Writing on ACW 2008–2010

Dr. Forden has been at MIT since 2000 where his research includes the analysis of Russian and Chinese space systems as well as trying to understand how proliferators acquire the know-how and industrial infrastructure to produce weapons of mass destruction.

All posts by Geoff Forden