Weather Improves For North KoreaRocket Launch

[tekisui]

Source: Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) - Weather conditions that may have delayed North Korea's launch of a rocket, which is widely seen as a disguised long-range missile test, improved on Sunday, reports said.

The United States, Japan and South Korea say the launch of the Taepodong-2 rocket would violate U.N. resolutions. The missile is designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska.

The North said on Saturday it had completed preparations to put a satellite into space, adding the launch would occur soon.

South Korean officials said high winds and cloudy skies may have caused the North to put off the launch on Saturday, the first day of a five-day window the secretive state announced to the outside world.

North Korea has said the launch would take place between April 4-8 from the hours of 3:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. British time.

The North's KCNA news agency predicted clearer skies and lower winds on Sunday around its Musudan-ri missile base, according to reports monitored in Seoul.

Experts have said clear visibility would help North Korea, with limited radar capabilities, monitor the flight.

The base is located in the northeast of the country, about 850 km (530 miles) from the Japanese coast.

more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE5320FQ20090405

[davidpdx]

1. I'm in Seoul and we are in the window for the second day

No word yet if Crazy Little Kim has launched his missile. My guess is it's going to end up in the ocean in small little pieces. The North Koreans are dumb and incompetent if anything and the previous missile launch and the nuclear bomb test were both failures (the bomb detonated, but did not achieve full maximum strength).