China working to ease concerns over launch

China has done much to soothe the concerns aroused by the recent satellite launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and has sought opportunities to restore talks among various parties interested in the launch, experts said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi urged all such parties on Friday to exhibit the maximum amount of restraint over the failed satellite launch. Officials in the United States and some of its allies believe the operation was meant to disguise a test of a long-range ballistic missile.

The DPRK's official KCNA news agency said on Friday that the satellite was launched at 7:38 am and then "failed to enter its preset orbit". Scientists, technicians and experts are investigating the cause of the failure, it said.

The launch drew large amounts of attention, in part because it violated Security Council Resolution 1874, which demands that the country not launch ballistic missile technology. In a rare glimpse into the country, the operation was brought before the outside world through the work of more than 100 foreign reporters who were invited to be onlookers by the DPRK.

The DPRK has been more open to the outside world and transparent with information since Kim Jong-un became the new leader of the country, said Wang Junsheng, an expert of Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"It's interesting that Pyongyang announced the failure of the launch by itself," he said.

In 1998 and 2009, Pyongyang denied that satellite launches it had conducted had failed. The US, though, reviewed tracking data and then asserted there had indeed been a failure.

The third launch was undertaken mostly to consolidate the new DPRK leadership, which is stable but still needs to be strengthened, Wang said.

Contact the writer at zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn