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DPRK ready to launch satellite: official

Xinhua, April 11, 2012

• The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has made everything ready to launch an earth observation satellite, an official said Wednesday.

  On Wednesday morning, the DPRK government invited a group of journalists to visit the General Satellite Control and Command Center, located some 20 km northwest of Pyongyang.

  Paek Chunghou, general director of the facility, said at a briefing that workers had placed the satellite on the rocket and fuel is being injected into the rocket.

  "We're sure that we will be successful," he said through an interpreter.

  Asked if the DPRK would launch the satellite on Thursday since the weather condition is currently very good, the director said he was still awaiting the order for the exact time to launch the satellite.

  The DPRK announced last month its decision to launch the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite, an earth observation satellite, between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th birthday of late DPRK founder Kim Il Sung.

  The announcement has triggered strong reactions from the United States and the DPRK's neighbors South Korea and Japan, with all three countries pressurizing Pyongyang to halt the plan.

  Regarding the DPRK's planned satellite launch as "provocative" and "inconsistent with its commitments," the United States suspended planned food aid to the country on March 28.

  On Feb. 29, the two countries announced that they had reached a deal, under which the DPRK agreed to suspend nuclear enrichment activities as well as long-range missile launches and allow international inspectors back into the country, while the United States would provide the DPRK with 240,000 tons of nutritious aid.

  South Korea also maintains the DPRK's satellite launch could be a disguised test of a long-range missile.

  Both South Korea and Japan warned that they could intercept the rocket if it or its fragments threaten to hit the two countries.

  As an important regional player and also the host of the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula's nuclear issue, China also expressed concern about the development surrounding the satellite launch, calling on all parties concerned to exercise restraint and seek proper solutions via diplomatic channels and by peaceful means.

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