Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1
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Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1 (,
Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...
: , meaning Bright Star 1) was a
satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
allegedly launched by
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
on 31 August 1998. While the North Korean government claimed that the launch was successful, no objects were ever tracked in
orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...
from the launch, and outside North Korea it is considered to have been a failure. It was the first satellite to be launched as part of the
Kwangmyŏngsŏng program The Kwangmyŏngsŏng program was a class of experimental artificial satellite, satellites developed by North Korea. The name Kwangmyŏngsŏng ("bright star", "brilliant star" or "constellation" in Korean language, Korean) is from a poem written ...
, and the first satellite that North Korea attempted to launch. It was launched from Musudan-ri using a Paektusan rocket, at 03:07 GMT on 31 August 1998, a few days before the 50th anniversary of North Korea's foundation. On 4 September, the
Korean Central News Agency The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) () is the state news agency of North Korea. The agency portrays the views of the North Korean government for both domestic and foreign consumption. It was established on December 5, 1946, and now features ...
announced that the satellite had successfully been placed into
low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...
. The
China National Space Administration The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is a government agency of the People's Republic of China headquartered in Haidian District, Haidian, Beijing, responsible for civil space administration and international space cooperation. These ...
was involved in the development of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1, which had a 72-faced polyhedral shape, similar to
Dong Fang Hong I ''Dong Fang Hong 1'' (), in the western world also known as China 1 or PRC 1, was the first space satellite of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), launched successfully on 24 April 1970 as part of the PRC's Dongfanghong program, Dong ...
, the first Chinese satellite. The mass of the satellite is unclear, with estimates ranging from to .


Etymology

The names "Paektusan" and "Kwangmyŏngsŏng" are richly symbolic for Korean nationalism and the Kim family cult. Paektusan (Mount Paektu) is the highest mountain in Korea (North and South) and is located on the border with China. According to Korean nationalist mythology, Tangun, the mythical founder of Korea, was born on the mountain in 2333 BC. And according to DPRK hagiographic propaganda, the mountain is sacred as the home of
Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...
's anti-Japanese guerrilla base, as well as the birthplace of
Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader of North Korea from Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung, the de ...
. Even though Kim Jong Il was born in the former Soviet Far East near
Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...
, DPRK sources claim Kim was born on Mount Paektu, and on that day a bright lode star (kwangmyŏngsŏng) appeared in the sky, so everyone knew a new general had been born.


Design

In designing the ''Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1'', North Korea received considerable assistance from the
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
's Academy of Launch Technology. This assistance has continued with the development of the ''Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2'' satellite project. It may also extend to additional satellites, including a crude
reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...
. Thus, the photographs published after the launch showed a satellite similar in shape with a 72-faced polyhedron, to the first Chinese satellite,
Dong Fang Hong I ''Dong Fang Hong 1'' (), in the western world also known as China 1 or PRC 1, was the first space satellite of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), launched successfully on 24 April 1970 as part of the PRC's Dongfanghong program, Dong ...
, itself very similar to
Telstar 1 Telstar 1 is a defunct communications satellite launched by NASA on July 10, 1962. One of the earliest communications satellites, it was the first satellite to achieve live transmission of broadcast television images between the United States ...
, though estimations of the mass and therefore the size of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1 differed according to the various sources, ranging from 6 kg to 170 kg (as compared to the 173 kg and 100 cm × 100 cm × 100 cm of the DFH-1).


Launch

On 7 August 1998, scientific personnel began to arrive at the Musudan-ri test site to prepare for a satellite launch. Two weeks later,
Korean People's Navy The Korean People's Army Navy (KPANF; ) or the Korean People's Navy (KPN) is the Navy, naval component of the Korean People's Army, the North Korean armed forces. There are some 780 vessels including 70 midget submarines (including the Yono-cla ...
vessels were deployed into the
Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...
(East Sea of Korea) to track the rocket during its ascent to orbit. The launch was originally scheduled for an evening
launch window In the context of spaceflight, launch period is the collection of days, and launch window is the time period on a given day, during which a particular rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsio ...
on 30 August, in order to provide favorable conditions for observing the launch. Due to adverse weather, the window was extended, and launch occurred at 03:07 GMT (12:07 local time), by which time the weather had improved. By mid-August, U.S. intelligence had detected activity consistent with preparation and support of a missile flight test, and on 31 August, North Korea launched the Paektusan-1 in an attempt to place a small satellite into earth orbit. U.S. intelligence observed the preparations for the launch, so the timing was not a surprise; however, most analysts did not expect the missile to be configured as a space launch vehicle with a third stage. The United States initially considered the launch a test of
intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...
technology, but it later noted that the rocket's trajectory indicated an orbital launch attempt. It is thought that the Paektusan-1 solid propellant third stage both demonstrated a near full duration burn and the spin up of the stage and satellite along its longitudinal axis. However, the third stage solid motor ruptured, de-orbiting the satellite almost immediately after orbital insertion while achieving orbital velocity. U.S. officials said the launching represented North Korea's interests to build longer-range missiles. Despite the launch failure, North Korea reported Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1 as a total success,. with the government counting its supposed orbital passes and publishing statements of praise from international supporters.


Reactions


North Korea

The 31 August 1998, Paektusan-1 launch was significant for North Korean domestic politics. North Korean media did not announce the test until 4 September, one day before the
Supreme People's Assembly The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the legislature of North Korea. It is ostensibly the highest organ of state power and the only branch of government in North Korea, with all state organs subservient to it under the principle of unified ...
amended the DPRK Constitution to usher in the
Kim Jong-il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his death in 2011, when he was ...
era. On 2 September, the official spokesman of the consulate general of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Nakhodka has refused to comment to Russian
news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...
ITAR-TASS on the launching of a medium-range missile from the territory of his country. What is more, he said that at the consulate general itself they had learned of the launching from the media. The DPRK Socialist Constitution declared Kim Il-sŏng "eternal president of the DPRK" and elevated the status of the National Defense Commission, which is chaired by Kim Jong-il. In the days before and after the attempted satellite launch, DPRK media often made references to the doctrine of Kangsŏngdaeguk (national strength and prosperity) since satellite launches and missiles represent the highest levels of technology. On 13 September, the North Korean media reported that the satellite had completed its 100th orbit, and that it was in an elliptical medium Earth orbit with a perigee of and apogee of with a period of 165 minutes and 6 seconds. North Korea stated that the satellite carried transmitters which broadcast the " Song of General Kim Il-sung", the " Song of General Kim Jong-il" and "
Juche ''Juche'', officially the ''Juche'' idea, is a component of Ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea#Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party o ...
Korea" in
morse code Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code i ...
, on a frequency of 27 MHz. It also claimed that the spacecraft returned data on the temperature and pressure in space, and the conditions of its power source.


People's Republic of China

China stated that it had no prior knowledge of the launch and has promised the United States that it will help keep "nuclear missiles out of North Korea". However, the Chinese government had expressed concern over the proposed joint US-Japanese Theater Missile Defense (TMD) plan and warned that, "Japan and the United States should exercise restraint and refrain from doing anything that may cause tensions in the region".


Russia

According to the head of
Strategic Missile Troops The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian Federation (RVSN RF; ) is a separate combat arm of the Russian Armed Forces that controls Russia's land-based intercontinental ballistic miss ...
Vladimir Yakovlev "in accordance with international agreements" North Korea warned Russia of the rocket launch. Yakovlev also reported that an accident during the launch caused the rocket to change its trajectory and therefore not enter the tracking zone of Russian monitoring systems. However, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs contradicted Yakovlev's report. Ministry sources said that no agreements on missile launch warnings exist between Russian and North Korea, and that no one was notified about the test ahead of time. A spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that although North Korea's missile launch concerned Moscow, Russia would like to have normal, friendly relations with North Korea.


South Korea

South Korea's response was relatively muted. In his U.N speech on 25 September 1998, South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Hong Soon-young called on the global community to make a concerted effort to deter North Korea from developing, testing, and exporting missiles. He also released a joint press statement with Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura and
US Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Körbelová, later Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political science, political scientist who served as the 64th United States Secretary of State, United S ...
condemning North Korea's missile launch, but reaffirming support for the 1994 Agreed Framework.


United States

On 10 September, the United States announced a package of agreements aimed at defusing tensions and resuming the stalled Four Party Talks on the
Korean Peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...
U.S. President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
used his executive authority to circumvent congressional opposition to the 1994 Agreed Framework by shifting $15 million to fund the purchase of 150,000 tons of heavy fuel oil for North Korea.Thomas W. Lippman, "Perry May be Named to Try to Salvage Pact with N. Korea," Washington Post, 4 October 1998, p. 27


See also

* Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 * Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 *
North Korea and weapons of mass destruction North Korea has a nuclear weapons program, and, as of 2024, is estimated to have an arsenal of approximately 50 nuclear weapons and sufficient production of fissile material for six to seven nuclear weapons per year.Taepodong-2 The Taepodong-2 (TD-2, also spelled as Taep'o-dong 2)
Federation of American Scientists, May 30, 2008
() is a ...
* 1993 North Korean missile test * Taepodong-1


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwangmyongsong-1 1998 in North Korea Spacecraft launched in 1998 Satellite launch failures Space program of North Korea