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North Korea's 'Satellite' Stabilizes in Orbit — But It's Not Transmitting Back to Earth

Pyongyang could also begin to recover plutonium from a restarted nuclear reactor within weeks, according to James Clapper, the director of US National Intelligence.
Tir de la fusée équipée du satellite le 7 février 2015. Photo via KCTV/EPA

The disputed payload of the long-range rocket which North Korea launched on Sunday has now stabilized in orbit around Earth, and the country could begin to recover plutonium from a restarted nuclear reactor within weeks, according to US sources.

Yet American officials said the rocket, which Pyongyang claimed carried a satellite, has not believed to have transmitted data back to Earth.

While North Korea had said it launched an earth observation satellite, others suspected it of being a hunk of space junk that Pyongyang used to justify a test of banned ballistic missile technology. South Korean lawmakers, citing the country's spy agency, said the satellite is worthless, the Yonhap news agency reported.

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The launch, which was announced in advance, again defied UN sanctions just weeks after a nuclear bomb test, but it has so far failed to convince experts that Pyongyang has significantly advanced its rocket technology. "It's in a stable orbit now. They got the tumbling under control," said a US official.

Japan said on Wednesday it was imposing sanctions on North Korea following the launch, while South Korea added to sanctions already in place by suspend operations at a jointly run factory park just inside the North.

Meanwhile, James Clapper, the director of US National Intelligence, said on Tuesday: "We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor."

Clapper said that in 2013, following its third nuclear test, North Korea announced its intention to "refurbish and restart" facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, to include the uranium enrichment facility and its graphite-moderated plutonium production reactor shut down in 2007.

Related: How North Korea's Rocket Launch Could End Up Screwing China in a War Against the US

"We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor's spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months," he said in his annual Worldwide Threat Assessment.

On Wednesday, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that remittances of money to North Korea in principle would be forbidden, while South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo told a media briefing that suspending operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex was to stop funds from it "being used for North Korea's development of missile and nuclear weapons programs."

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US President Barack Obama spoke with the leaders of South Korea and Japan by phone on Monday night and reassured them of Washington's support, while also calling for a strong international response to the launch, the White House said.

Obama will also address North Korea's "provocations" when he hosts the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in California early next week, aides said.

The United States and China, Pyongyang's only major ally, are negotiating the outline of a new UN sanctions resolution that diplomats hope will be adopted this month.

The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear tests and long-range rocket launches dating back to 2006, banning arms trade and money flow that can fund the country's arms program.

Related: Here's What We Know About North Korea's Rocket and the 'Satellite' It Put Into Orbit

But a confidential UN report, seen by Reuters, concluded that North Korea continues to export ballistic-missile technology to the Middle East and ship arms and materiel to Africa in violation of UN restrictions.

The report by the UN Security Council's Panel of Experts on North Korea, which monitors implementation of sanctions, said there were "serious questions about the efficacy of the current United Nations sanctions regime."

Also on Wednesday, it was reported by South Korea's Yonhap news agency that North Korea has executed its army chief of staff, Ri Yong-gil.

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If true, would be the latest in a series of executions, purges and disappearances under its young leader.

A source familiar with North Korean affairs also told Reuters that Ri had been executed. The source declined to be identified, given the sensitivity of the matter.

Ri, who was chief of the Korean People's Army (KPA) General Staff, was executed this month for corruption and factional conspiracy, Yonhap and other South Korean media reported.

Yonhap did not identify its sources. The source who told Reuters the news declined to comment on how the information about the execution had been obtained.

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