North Korea satellite not transmitting, but rocket payload a concern - U.S.

A North Korean long-range rocket is launched into the air at the Sohae rocket launch site, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo February 7, 2016. REUTERS/Kyodo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A satellite put into orbit by North Korea at the weekend does not appear to be transmitting, but it is worrying that the rocket that took it there delivered twice the payload of Pyongyang's previous launch, the head of the U.S. Army's Missile Defense Command said on Wednesday.

"If you look at the previous launch and the payload it put into orbit … just the increase in weight is I think an important factor," Lieutenant-General David Mann told a seminar on Capitol Hill organised by the Hudson Institute think tank.