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The rocket launched by North Korea last Sunday was made using the technology of the Long March-1 rocket China fired in the 1970s.
After looking at video footage of the rocket launch released by AP on Tuesday, Chae Yeon-seok, a former president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, said, the external appearance of the rocket shows that the North must have used technology of the Chinese rocket to make it.
The assembly method also seems to be Chinese. "The North set the first-stage booster rocket up vertically first, and then put the second and third-stage rockets on one by one. This assembly method is often used in China and backs up speculation that North Korea has borrowed the technology," Dr. Roh Woong-rae of KARI said. "You could see gas gushing out from the upper part of the first-stage booster rocket immediately after the rocket was launched, which is a characteristic of a rocket that uses liquid nitric acid as fuel." He added this corroborates a long-held speculation.
Asked if they believe the rocket was capable of carrying a satellite, experts said it seemed it had enough room in its upper part to carry a satellite.
The difference between the last two launches is that North Korea did not release a video clip of its abortive 2006 missile test, when the rocket flew for 42 seconds and exploded. This time, it released a five-second video. "Despite another failure, North Korea has been telling its people that the launch was a success," Chae said. "It seems the North is trying to mislead the public by at least releasing the video clip of the first few seconds."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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