On April 8, 100,000 people gathered in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, to participate in a rally in support of an April 5 satellite missile launch. The Taepodong-2 missile traveled 2,000 miles, the farthest distance the country has ever launched a missile.
According to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 was launched as part of a long-term goal to advance in science and technology.
The launch took place despite numerous threats from the United States and Japan. Both countries have worked hard to demonize the DPRK. So far, they have been unsuccessful in using the supposed illegality of the launch to pass more U.N. sanctions against the independent country.
According to the Korean Central News Agency of the DPRK, Kim Chang Ryong, a general in the Korean People’s Army, said that the peaceful use of outer space is an inalienable and legitimate right of a sovereign state.
