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Sohae Satellite Launching Station (, also known as Tongch'ang-dong Space Launch Center and Pongdong-ri) is a rocket launching site in Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. The base is located among hills close to the northern border with China. The spaceport was built on the site of the village Pongdong-ri which was displaced during construction. It was the site for the 13 April 2012 launch of the North Korean satellite Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3, which was launched to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-Sung.〔〔 The rocket launch failed, but on 12 December of the same year Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2 was successfully launched and brought into Earth orbit. The launches were controversial as they were dismissed by the US as tests of ballistic missile technology and hence of breach of an agreement made between North Korea and the USA in February 2012.〔 ==History== Signs of construction were visible during the early 1990s and became more pronounced by the early 2000s. A major progress in the construction was discovered in 2008 by Jane's Information Group, which requested imagery from the satellite company DigitalGlobe. Movements from the Sanum’dong missile research factory with the erector transporter and railroad, road transportation to the space center of a prototype Unha-3 class booster first two stages initially took place over 29–31 May 2009 possibly for logistics testing as well as personnel facilities infrastructure testing training purposes. The results of those tests suggest that military and design specialists ultimately decided to build a facilities access railroad to cut down the 15 kilometer road access logistics issues to the space center. By early 2011 it was reported that the construction was completed and that it had been under construction for a decade.〔 The first official mention of the site took place in March 2012 when North Korea announced it will launch from that site the satellite Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3. On April 2012, prior to the launch of the satellite, Jang Myong-jin, director of the Sohae, introduced the launching process of the Unha-3 rocket (Korean: 은하-3호, 銀河-3) during a guided media tour.〔〔 The first launch of Kwangmyongsong-3 on 12 April 2012 failed. On 1 December 2012, the Korean Central News Agency announced that a second version of Kwangmyongsong-3 was to be launched from Sohae between 10 December – 22 December 2012.〔 North Korea declared the launch successful, and the South Korean military and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported that initial indications suggested that an object had achieved orbit.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=North Korea reports successful launch of controversial rocket )〕 North Korea had previously claimed the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1 and Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 launches successful,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1998.08.31 - Kwangmyŏngsŏng 1 )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/2009/04/05/idUKSEO88417 )〕 despite American military sources confirming that they failed to achieve orbit.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=NORAD and USNORTHCOM monitor North Korean launch )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sohae Satellite Launching Station」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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