North Korea in satellite tribute to former leader Kim

North Korea said today it would launch a long-range rocket mounted with a satellite in honour of late president Kim Il Sung’s April birthday.

A spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology made the announcement in a statement carried by state media.

Lift-off will take place between April 12 and 16 from a station in North Phyongan province, the spokesman said.

The launch will take place exactly three years after a similar launch in April 2009 drew widespread condemnation from the US, South Korea and others as a cover for testing North Korea’s long-range missile technology.

The move was seen as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions banning North Korea from engaging in nuclear and ballistic missile activity.

North Korea called the April 2009 launch a test of its satellite technology.