North Korea has launched a so-called military spy satellite toward the South, the South Korean army said on Tuesday (Nov 21), after Pyongyang warned Japan of an impending launch, defying warnings from Seoul and UN resolutions banning the use of ballistic missiles prohibit technologies.
Japan, in turn, reported North Korea’s missile launch, which Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned with “the strongest possible force.” “We have already protested strongly against North Korea,” Mr. Kishida added from his office in Tokyo.
“At the moment we are waiting to find out if there was any damage. And even if they call it a satellite, launching something that uses ballistic missile technology is clearly a violation of United Nations resolutions,” the prime minister said. “This is an important situation that affects the security of the Japanese people. We will continue to gather information and remain vigilant,” he continued.
The Japanese government briefly ordered residents of the Okinawa region, southwest of the archipelago, to seek shelter when the launch was announced, but the evacuation order was lifted.
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After two failed attempts to put a military satellite into orbit last May and August, North Korea informed Japan on Wednesday of its intention to launch a satellite, according to Tokyo, defying warnings from Seoul and U.N. resolutions barring Pyongyang from deploying it Ban ballistic missile technologies.
A violation of United Nations resolutions
Any use of ballistic missile technology would violate United Nations resolutions, Fumio Kishida warned on Wednesday, adding that Japan was coordinating its response with South Korea and the United States, its partners under a trilateral defense agreement.
On Monday, South Korea’s military warned North Korea to “immediately” halt its preparations for such an operation and warned Pyongyang that it would take “necessary measures” if necessary. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol could “suspend the September 19 military agreement,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
That agreement, reached during a summit in Pyongyang in 2018, aimed to reduce military tensions along the highly secure inter-Korean border by creating maritime “buffer zones.” Tests of medium- or long-range ballistic missiles in Seoul “cannot be ruled out,” Mr. Yang added.
North Korea has conducted an unprecedented number of missile tests this year despite international sanctions and warnings from the United States, South Korea and their allies.
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