Strange things seem to be happening in North Korea on the nuclear front

Satellite images captured by a US website that monitors sensitive sites in North Korea would tend to suggest that "significant activity" is taking place at a North Korean laboratory that could separate plutonium for nuclear weapons. The website has indicated that in the course of the past five weeks exhaust plumes have been observed two or three times at the radiochemical laboratory complex at Yongbyon.
This is reported in news.sky.com dated 5 April 2016.

An obvious suggestion is that the buildings are being heated, but it is not clear as to why. In the opinion of satellite imagery specialists, the plumes suggest that the operators of the reprocessing facility are heating their buildings. An inference can be drawn that some significant activity is being undertaken, or will be in the near future. It could be additional separation of plutonium for nuclear weapons but that is no clear.
The lab is located in the place where North Korea separates weapons-grade plutonium from nuclear reactor waste. These activities come as China has imposed restrictions on imports of coal from North Korea and exports of jet fuel to Pyongyang - the move is in line with current United Nations sanctions on the secretive state.
North Korea had announced its intention to restart nuclear facilities in 2013. And, in January, it conducted its latest nuclear test explosion, followed within weeks by a long-range rocket launch.
US intelligence feels that North Korea could begin recovering material for nuclear weapons "within a matter of weeks to months" and, tensions on the peninsula have been fueled by the annual South Korea-US military drills. North Korea has threatened to retaliate with nuclear strikes on Seoul and Washington.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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North Korea defies UN-sanctions, launches long-range rocket reportedly carrying a satellite

#northkorea #rocketlaunch Ignoring warnings from the international community, North Korea has launched a long-range rocket which is believed to be carrying a satellite. This has been informed by defense ministry of South Korea. This action by north Korea is in defiance of United Nations sanctions.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 7 February 2016.

The US Strategic Command has indicated that it had detected what it called a missile entering space - this would appear to quash earlier media reports that it might have failed during flight. The rocket had been launched in a southward trajectory and Japan's Fuji Television Network showed a streak of light heading into the sky. This image had been taken from a camera at China's border with North Korea.
North Korea has been barred under UN sanctions from using ballistic missile technology. But, it had notified UN agencies that it planned to launch a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite. This led to opposition from governments who interpret it as a long-range missile test. The UN Security Council was likely to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the developments.
Incidentally, North Korea had given a February 8-25 time frame for the launch but changed it to February 7-14. The United States was tracking the rocket launch and, in its opinion, it did not believe that it posed a threat to the United States or its allies.
North Korea is isolated in the world and insists that it has a sovereign right to pursue a space program. It last launched a long-range rocket in December 2012 to send into orbit an object which it had described as a communications satellite.


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