North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter Kim Ju-ae take part in a military parade commemorating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean army at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 8, 2023, in this photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
KCNA | Reuters
North Korea launched what it said was a rocket on Wednesday, the South Korean military said, a day after the country announced plans to put its first military spy satellite into orbit.
The Southern Joint Chiefs of Staff did not immediately provide further details. After the launch, officials in the South Korean capital Seoul sounded an alarm over public speakers and smartphones for residents to prepare to evacuate, but there were no immediate reports of damage or disruption.
The Japan Coast Guard said on Monday that North Korea notified it of plans to launch the satellite between May 31 and June 11. Japan’s defense minister has ordered his forces to shoot down satellites or debris if any enter Japanese territory.
North Korea’s satellite launch violated a UN Security Council resolution banning the country’s use of ballistic technology because it was seen as a cover for a missile test.
Ri Pyong Chol, a senior North Korean official and a close associate of leader Kim Jong Un, said on Tuesday that North Korea was being forced to secure a “reliable reconnaissance and information” system as it said it was escalating security threats from the United States and its allies. North Korea will launch a spy satellite in June, he said.
It’s unclear whether North Korea’s spy satellites would significantly bolster its defenses. The satellite revealed by the country’s state media does not appear to be sophisticated enough to produce high-resolution images. But some experts say it could still detect troop movements and large targets, such as warships and warplanes.
However, recent commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s main rocket launch center in northwestern North Korea shows active construction activity, suggesting North Korea plans to launch more than one satellite.
In a statement on Tuesday, Lee Myung-bak said the country would test “various means of reconnaissance”.
The mission of these surveillance assets is to “track, monitor, identify, control” and respond in real time in advance to the actions of the United States and its allies, he said.
With three to five spy satellites, North Korea could build a space-based surveillance system that would allow it to monitor the Korean peninsula in near real time, said Lee Chun-geun, an honorary fellow at the South Korea Institute for Science and Technology Policy.
During a visit to the country’s aerospace agency earlier this month, Kim Jong Un emphasized the possible strategic importance of spy satellites in North Korea’s standoff with the United States and South Korea.
The satellite is one of several high-tech weapons systems Kim Jong-un has publicly promised to introduce in recent years. Other weapons he has pledged to develop include multiple-warhead missiles, nuclear submarines, solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missiles and hypersonic missiles.
Denuclearization talks with the US have been stalled since early 2019. Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un has been focused on expanding his nuclear and missile arsenal, which experts say is an effort to win concessions from Washington and Seoul. North Korea has conducted more than 100 missile tests since the start of 2022, many of which involved nuclear-capable weapons against the U.S. mainland, South Korea and Japan.
North Korea said its testing was a self-defense measure in response to expanded military exercises between Washington and Seoul, which North Korea views as an invasion exercise. U.S. and South Korean officials said their drills were defensive in nature, backing their response to North Korea’s growing nuclear threat.