North Korea Drives Space Program Forward - Report

Increased activitiy in one of North Korea's space launch pads suggests future tests with larger rockets, according to a US analyst institute.

According to the US-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins University, there has been great progress in the Tonghae space center since October 2012.

Referring to satellite images, the institute says it suspects that technology from Iran might have contributed to the progress, as the design of units resembles that at an Iranian facility.

According to the North 38 website as quoted by the BBC, North Korea continues building a new pad to launch rockets significantly larger than the Unha-3 launched in December 2012.

The official goal of the rocket was to launch an observation satellite, but countries such as the US have feared that Pyongyang is really developing long-range ballistic missiles.

End of January North Korea officially informed it has carried out a successful underground nuclear test.