2023-05-29 23:02:39
Asia
North Korea will launch a spy satellite in June
Pyongyang on Tuesday confirmed the launch of a military spy satellite in June, in order to “address the dangerous military actions of the United States”, according to the official KCNA agency.
Updated
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter, May 16, 2023.
The “number 1 military reconnaissance satellite” will be “launched in June”, in order to “deal with the dangerous military actions of the United States and its vassals”, announced Ri Pyong Chol, vice chairman of the central military commission of the Workers’ Party, quoted by the state agency KCNA. The official also accused the United States of carrying out “hostile aerial espionage activities in the Korean peninsula and its vicinity”.
Japan announced on Monday that it had been informed by North Korea of an upcoming satellite launch, a project which the Japanese government said would conceal a ballistic missile launch. According to Tokyo, Pyongyang notified the Japanese Coast Guard of the rocket launch between May 31 and June 11. The projectile is expected to land in an area somewhere between the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and eastern Luzon Island in the Philippines, places generally designated for falling debris or rocket stages.
“Even if it is described as a satellite, a launch using ballistic missile technology would violate United Nations Security Council resolutions” and threaten the safety of the population, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday.
Order to shoot down
The Japanese Ministry of Defense has given the order to shoot down any ballistic missile whose fall on its land or sea territory is confirmed, specifying that it has deployed SM-3 and Patriot PAC-3 type interceptor missiles for this purpose.
“North Korea’s alleged ‘satellite launch’ constitutes a serious violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions banning all launches using ballistic missile technology, and is a clearly illegal act. which cannot be justified under any pretext,” the South Korean Defense Ministry also said in a statement.
This communication strategy of Pyongyang, consisting in informing Japan of its future launches but not South Korea, might be linked to the important joint exercises between Seoul and Washington which began Thursday 25 km south of the inter-Korean border, estimated analyst Cheong Seong-chang of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute. “North Korea doesn’t like Japan, but it has more reason to dislike Seoul right now,” he said.
Seoul and Tokyo have been trying to warm up long-strained relations for the past few weeks, including by working together more in the face of North Korea’s military threats. But Fumio Kishida reiterated on Monday that Tokyo was also open to talks with Pyongyang, which official North Korean media said appeared to approve of a conciliatory approach to relations with Japan – an unusual stance from the reclusive country.
North Korea has already tested ballistic missiles in 2012 and then in 2016, which it described as satellite launches and which flew over the island department of Okinawa, in southern Japan. The development of a reconnaissance satellite was among Pyongyang’s key defense projects unveiled last year by Kim Jong Un. The North Korean leader visited the workshop where the satellite is being developed on May 16, and gave the green light to his “future action plan”.
(AFP)
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