World View

By Joohee Cho, ABC News Seoul Correspondent

Finally, we have an idea of when North Korea will test those missiles. Or should I call it a satellite?

Either way, Pyongyang’s notifying the International Maritime Organization of its plan to launch a ‘satellite’ between April 4 and April 8 was the best news - personally - I have had in the past three weeks. For someone covering North Korea, it is almost excruciating to sit and wait, wondering day after day when the big news would break. Weekend plans, dinner plans and party invitations had to be turned down so that I could be prepared with a clear sober mind to start churning out news. Those are the drawback of being a foreign correspondent on the other side of the time zone.

The international community has been exceptionally wary of this rocket, concluding that it is actually a long-range missile, not a satellite for "peaceful scientific purposes," as the North Koreans have called it. Here in Seoul, the talk of the town is that there is no way the North Koreans could have the technology to put up an experimental communications satellite. And why would they need a communications satellite in the first place? They don’t even have power to turn on what limited number of television sets they have.

But now, some local South Korean media are questioning the "accusations." What if it actually is a satellite?

North Korea has taken unprecedented steps to emphasize and perhaps clarify its intentions. It has joined the Outer Space Treaty, notified the International Maritime Organization and informed the International Civil Aviation Organization. Quoting anonymous sources with "close access to North Korean intelligence," Yonhap News Agency noted that not only did North Koreans state the dates but also the scope of latitude and longitude to the east of the Korean peninsula. Is this a sign of a new North Korea dutifully taking steps as a member of the international community?

No matter what, if it does succeed and if it indeed turns out to be a satellite, Kim Jong-Il would be catching two birds with one stone. He would be saying "I told you so" and at the same time, given that a satellite and a missile use similar technology, creating enough fear among the international community. The suspected long-range missile is known to have capability to reach as far as the West Coast of United States. But what the Dear Leader really wants at the end of the day, many analysts here say, is to nail a one-on-one negotiating deal with President Obama.