North Korea Says It Has Conducted A Second "important" Test Of A Spy Satellite

People watch TV coverage of a North Korean ballistic missile launch off the east coast in Seoul, South Korea, March 5, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

SEOUL, March 6 – North Korea said it had conducted “another major” test of spy satellite systems, state news agency KCNA reported on Sunday, a day after regional military authorities reported a ballistic missile launch from the country in second time. once a week.

The launch drew condemnation from the US, South Korean and Japanese governments, who fear the North is preparing to conduct major weapons tests in the coming months. They view northern satellite launches as thinly veiled ballistic missile tests banned by UN Security Council resolutions.

North Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) and the Academy of Defense Sciences carried out the launch “in accordance with the plan for the development of a reconnaissance satellite,” KCNA said.

It was the second such launch in a week to test satellite equipment and the ninth launch of the rocket this year.

“During the tests, NADA confirmed the reliability of the satellite’s data transmission and reception system, its control command system and various ground control systems,” the KCNA statement said.

As with the latest test on February 27, KCNA did not specify the type of missile used in the launch, but South Korean authorities said it was a ballistic missile fired from an area near Pyongyang, where its international airport is located.

The South Korean military said the North Korean missile reached an altitude of about 560 kilometers (350 miles) and flew 270 kilometers (170 miles).

Amid deadlocked denuclearization talks, North Korea conducted a record number of weapon launches in January and proposed resuming testing of nuclear weapons or its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) for the first time since 2017.

Saturday’s test comes just days before Wednesday’s presidential election in South Korea, where officials are gearing up for North Korea’s attempt to launch its spy satellite into orbit in the near future.

“Any satellite launch will have serious consequences as it is the same technology used to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles,” Lee Jong Suk, chief foreign policy adviser to ruling party candidate Lee Jae Myung, told Reuters.

South Korea is also advancing plans to build its own space launch vehicles, which are not banned by the UN Security Council.

It plans to test a solid-propellant space projectile this month as part of a project to deploy its own military surveillance satellites to monitor the North, Yonhap news agency reported.

Reporting by Josh Smith. Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio.

Our Standards: Trust Principles.