- The start is the third attempt this year
- North Korea says satellites are needed to track the US and its allies
- Launches are condemned by the USA, Japan and South Korea
- South Korea says Russia could support North Korea
SEOUL/TOKYO, Nov 21 (Portal) – North Korea said it successfully launched its first spy satellite into orbit on Tuesday and vowed to launch more in the near future, defying international condemnation from the United States and its allies .
Officials in South Korea and Japan, which first reported the launch, said they could not immediately verify whether a satellite had been put into orbit.
North Korea had previously informed Japan that it planned to deploy a satellite between Wednesday and December 1, after two failed attempts to launch so-called spy satellites earlier this year.
Citing the North’s National Aerospace Technology Administration, state news agency KCNA said the Malligyong-1 satellite was launched at 10:42 p.m. (1:42 p.m. GMT) with a Chollima-1 rocket from the Sohae Satellite Launch Facility and at Entered orbit at 10:54 p.m. 1354 GMT).
Tuesday’s launch would be the first since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Vladimir Putin in September at Russia’s advanced space facility for a summit in which the Russian president pledged to help Pyongyang build satellites.
South Korean officials said the latest launch attempt likely involved technical assistance from Moscow as part of a growing partnership that has seen North Korea send millions of artillery shells to Russia. Russia and North Korea have denied such arms deals, but have publicly promised deeper cooperation.
The launch is “a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, heightens tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond,” U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
Kim Jong Un personally watched the launch, KCNA said, and it came just over a week before South Korea plans to send its first spy satellite into space on a Falcon 9 rocket from U.S. company Space X.
The North Korean space agency will deploy several spy satellites in the near future to further secure surveillance capabilities over South Korea and other regions of interest to North Korean forces, the report said.
“Launching a reconnaissance satellite is a legitimate right (of North Korea) to strengthen its self-defense capabilities,” KCNA said, adding that it would improve the country’s military readiness in the face of “dangerous military moves” by its enemies.
After the launch attempt in May, South Korea removed the satellite’s wreckage from the sea and said an analysis showed the satellite had limited use as a reconnaissance platform.
Marco Langbroek, a satellite expert at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, said that while the “observation satellites” launched from the north reached orbit in 2012 and 2016, it was not known whether they were ever truly functional and both burned up in the atmosphere this year.
Analysts say even a rudimentary satellite system could give North Korea the ability to remotely monitor U.S., South Korean and Japanese troops for the first time.
Such a capability could allow the nuclear-armed North to target its weapons in the event of war, but greater insight into the movements of allied troops could also help provide a degree of security and stability, said Ankit Panda of the in the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
EMERGENCY ALARM
The South Korean military said it believed the missile was carrying a reconnaissance satellite and was fired toward the south.
Through its emergency alert system, the Japanese government urged Okinawa residents to seek shelter indoors or underground. It later said the missile appeared to have flown over and past Okinawa toward the Pacific and canceled the emergency warning.
In brief remarks to reporters upon his arrival at his office, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated that North Korea’s launch was a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and a threat to the safety of Japanese citizens.
“We have lodged a strong protest and strongly condemned North Korea,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kishida said his country’s defense systems, including the Aegis destroyers and PAC-3 anti-aircraft missiles, were ready for any “unexpected situation.”
Japan took no steps to destroy the missile, the coast guard said, citing the Defense Ministry.
South Korea, Japan and the United States coordinated to preposition Aegis destroyers that tracked the launch and shared data, the South Korean military said.
POLITICAL FALLOUT
North Korea has informed Japan of its satellite launch plans, as the International Maritime Organization’s coordinating authority for these waters.
“These launches, even if they were aimed at launching a satellite, contradict relevant UN resolutions banning the use of ballistic missile technology,” said Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno.
South Korea has said it is considering suspending parts of a 2018 inter-Korean agreement meant to ease tensions, saying the North has repeatedly violated the deal by firing missiles and flying drones.
Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim and Sakura Murakami in Tokyo and Jack Kim, Soo-hyang Choi and Josh Smith in Seoul; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington, written by Jack Kim and Josh Smith; Edited by Sandra Maler, Lincoln Feast, Simon Cameron-Moore, William Maclean, Mark Heinrich and Cynthia Osterman
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