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What North Korea's Rocket Launch Tells Us about Iran's Role

(NPR) Tom Gjelten - U.S. analysts say the North Koreans' main goal in launching a satellite into orbit this week is to see all three stages of their rocket work, to show that the rocket could carry its payload a long distance. We know North Korea and Iran have worked together in missile design, says Charles Vick, a missile expert at GlobalSecurity.org, in comparing the North Korean Nodong missile with Iran's Shahab. "In every detail, right down to the re-entry vehicles, Nodong A is the Shahab 3," he says. "The technology is being transferred in both directions, and I think that's what's going on in the nuclear technology, too." Theodore Postol, a missile expert at MIT, says this week's North Korean rocket was actually a joint production between North Korean and Iranian engineers.
2012-12-14 00:00:00
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