North Korea's first satellite: fact and fiction

On 4 September 1998 North Korea announced that it had launched its first satellite on 31 August. Whilst the North Koreans maintained that they had a satellite in orbit, nothing was tracked in the West. This paper presents a review of what the North Koreans announced concerning the satellite launch and the various statements and claims which were made by both the Russians and the USA before the question of the launch being successful or unsuccessful was finally resolved.