Fantastic!

[nycwriters]

.

[amanda]

why is it that no one listens?

* (http://www.zefrank.com/bulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1457&pagenumber=4)

[amanda]

North Korea is a huge problem for our region, much more than we can handle alone. We have the most to lose, but we can't do it without the US. The dipolmatic ball must move and fast.

-just heard from Alexander Downer, Australian Foreign Minister

[amanda]

The Japan Times: March 29, 2003
H-IIA deploys Japan's first spy satellites

TANEGASHIMA, Kagoshima Pref. (Kyodo) Amid tight security, the National Space Development Agency of Japan launched a rocket carrying two spy satellites into space Friday to help the government monitor North Korea's missile and nuclear activities.

An H-IIA rocket, carrying Japan's first spy satellites, lifts off Friday morning from the Tanegashima Space Center, off southern Kagoshima Prefecture.

NASDA said the satellites were later successfully released into orbit.

North Korea immediately denounced the launch as a "hostile act" that violates the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration, which was signed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in September.

"Japan launched the satellites to spy on (North Korea), wantonly violating the Pyongyang Declaration," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official (North) Korean Central News Agency.

The H-IIA rocket blasted off from the Tanegashima Space Center off southern Kagoshima Prefecture as planned at 10:27 a.m.

The government said two intelligence-gathering satellites -- one equipped with an optical sensor and the other with a synthetic-aperture radar able to distinguish objects on Earth 1 to 3 meters in size -- are intended to bolster the nation's defense and help it cope with major natural disasters.

But it is widely believed their main purpose is to keep an eye on North Korea.

The government decided to deploy spy satellites after North Korea launched a Taepodong ballistic missile in 1998, part of which flew over Japan and fell into the Pacific Ocean.

"Japan will be held wholly responsible for sparking a news arms race in Northeast Asia," the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said. "The satellite launch deprived Japan of any justification and qualification to talk about the DPRK's satellite launch."

North Korea has insisted that in 1998 it merely launched a rocket to put its satellites into orbit.

The Pyongyang Declaration says the two countries agree to cooperate in maintaining and strengthening the peace and stability of Northeast Asia. It also states that North Korea "would further maintain the moratorium on missile launching in and after 2003."

The spy satellite project marks a major turnaround in Japan's space program, which has been based on the principle of peaceful, nonmilitary use of space.

Japan is concerned that North Korea may soon test-fire a ballistic missile, after Pyongyang claimed in mid-March the right to put a satellite into space. The North maintains the 1998 launch was intended to place a satellite in orbit.

The Tanegashima space center has been under tight security, Kagoshima police have stepped up patrols and the Japan Coast Guard has patrolled the area in the air and at sea.

In Tokyo, the government opened the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, which will operate the spy satellites, involving 320 officials, including nearly 100 satellite image analysts.

The government plans to launch two more intelligence-gathering satellites this summer and expects to start receiving and analyzing data from the four spy satellites next March.

Japan plans to launch eight spy satellites by March 2009 and is considering placing a data relay satellite in a geostationary orbit.

It also plans to increase Satellite Intelligence Center personnel so images can be analyzed round the clock.

At present, Japan relies on U.S. satellite intelligence and communications intercepts to learn of North Korean missile launches, including the test-firing of two antiship missiles in February.

The rocket is the fifth version of the domestically developed launch vehicle. The previous four launches lifted off successfully.

The runup to the launch went smoothly, NASDA officials said. The skies were clear early Friday morning. Strong winds blew in the area overnight.