| Country: |
North Korea |
| Associated Country: |
People's Republic of China |
| Class: |
SLV |
| Basing: |
Surface based |
| Length: |
32.00 m |
| Diameter: |
1.36 m |
| Launch Weight: |
25700 kg |
| Payload: |
Single warhead |
| Warhead: |
750 kg; Nuclear, biological, chemical, HE |
| Propulsion: |
Two stages liquid, one solid |
| Range: |
5000 km |
| Status: |
Development |
Details
The Taep'o-dong SLV system represents an attempt by North Korea to develop increased space launch capabilities. It is a three-stage version rocket with a solid propellant third stage. The first stage is based on the No-dong 1 missile and the second stage is based on the ‘Scud C.’ In addition to being able to launch North Korean satellites, the missile could potentially propel a warhead some 5,000 km (3,107 miles).
The Taep’o-dong 1 SLV has a length of 32.0 m, a launch weight of 25,700 kg and a range of 5,000 km (3,107 miles) with an accuracy of 4,000 m CEP. The test site had a height of 40 m and was located near Musundan-ri. There are unconfirmed reports that the missile has been improved with Chinese assistance. North Korea agreed to suspend their test flights until 2003. However there were several new structures seen at the Hwadae-gun test site, the location where the Taep’o-dong SLV was tested.
The last test for the Taep’o-dong SLV was made in 1999. Both Pakistani and Iranian personnel were present. Both countries have been public about their ambitions to begin launching satellites of their own.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2007), 97-98.
Sixth Anniversary of North Korean ICBM Launch
August 31, 2004 :: News
Six years ago today, in 1998, North Korea surprised the world with the launch of long range Taepo Dong I missile, which traveled over Japan and eventually fell into the Pacific. Mainstream intelligence analysts were flummoxed; since North Korea had hitherto only tested its much more primitive No Dong missile, they were not considering other possibilities. Thus providing an example of what the 9-11 Commission would later term a “failure of imagination.”
In fact, the launch was of an SLV, a space launch vehicle, designed to put into orbit a small radio broadcasting the immortal hymns of Kim Jong Il. This simply means that the missile was put on a slightly different trajectory, to go into orbit rather than deliver a warhead to another spot on the ground. That the launch failed did not diminish the importance of the test for military applications, showing that North Korea had the capability for long range missiles—even if in this case the final stage did not reach orbit.
The launch did not come as a complete surprise to all parties, however, especially the nine members of the Rumsfeld Commission, who just weeks before had completed their report warning that a rogue nation could deploy an intercontinental range missile—the Taepo Dong I classified as such, by virtue of its range—within five years of doing so, if only by strapping together smaller and fairly primitive Scud missiles. The test, in combination with the Rumsfeld Committee’s bold but unanimous report, were instrumental in reenergizing the push for missile defenses. The next year, Congress passed and Clinton signed H.R. 4—”The National Missile Defense Act of 1999”—into law, which stated that it is the policy of the United States to deploy a missile defense as soon as technologically feasible. Clinton signed the law because it was politically impossible to do otherwise. While the law stated that missile defenses should be deployed when technologically feasible, Clinton added four reasons that would guide any decision about whether or not to deploy, namely four good enough excuses to provide a basis for why he would not carry this law into execution. The same law is frequently cited as the basis for the Bush administrations beginning to deploy a limited system in Alaska, due later this year if all goes as planned. (Link)
» Rumsfeld Report text
» National Missile Defense Act of 1999 text
» More stories on: North Korea
» Missile details: Taep'o-dong 1 SLV, Taep'o-dong 1
