Kwangmyŏngsŏng was an artificial satellite reportedly launched by North Korea. It was announced on September 1, 1998 that the satellite had been launched at 3:07 UTC on August 31 from a launch site in Musudan-ri, Hwatae-gun , North Hamgyong Province by a Pekdosan rocket. This was followed by a video of the launch, the satellite, and an animation of the satellite in orbit. The photographs showed a satellite similar to the first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, itself very similar to Telstar 1.

There is some doubt as to whether a launch took place at all, as NORAD were unable to detect the satellite visually, by radar, or pick up its radio signals. It is thought that the third stage failed to fire and it was placed into an orbit from which it decayed very quickly.

According to the North Korean media it completed its hundredth orbit on September 13, 1998 and was in an ellipitcal orbit with a perihelion of 218.82 km and aphelion of 6,978.2 km with a period of 165 minutes and 6 seconds. It was also reported to be transmitting the melody of 'Song to General Kim Il-sung' and 'Song to General Kim Jong-il ' and the Morse signals 'Juche Korea' in 27 MHz.

References

• Encyclopedia Astronautica
• Korean Central News Agency
• Federation of American Scientists