NK to launch 1st military spy satellite
Proposed launch would violate a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions
North Korea said yesterday it will launch its first military spy satellite in June in a bid to monitor "dangerous" military activity by the United States and South Korea in real time.
The North disclosed the timing of its planned launch through state media, one day after it notified Japan of its plan to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11.
In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, Ri Pyong-chol, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Worker's Party of Korea, said the North's satellite reconnaissance is an "indispensable" act to bolster its self-defence capabilities against the enemies' "reckless" military exercises.
The North's spy satellite to be launched in June and various reconnaissance means to be newly tested are "indispensable to tracking, monitoring, discriminating, controlling and coping with in advance in real time the dangerous military acts" of the US and South Korea, Ri said in the English-language statement.
He also vowed to "expand reconnaissance and information means and improve various defensive and offensive weapons and have the timetables for carrying out their development plans," without elaborating on details.
Earlier this month, North Korea announced the completion of preparations to mount its first military spy satellite on a rocket, with the North's leader Kim Jongun approving the "future action plan".
A military reconnaissance satellite is among the high-tech weapons systems that the North's leader vowed to develop at a key party congress in 2021, along with a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and a nuclear-powered submarine.
South Korea "strongly" warned against North Korea's planned satellite launch on Monday, vowing to make Pyongyang pay "due prices" if it goes ahead with the launch.
The North's proposed satellite launch would violate a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions banning its nuclear and missile programmes, as it uses the same technology used in ballistic missiles.
A US State Department spokesperson said on Monday any North Korean launch that uses ballistic missile technology, including those used to put a satellite in orbit, would violate multiple United Nations resolutions.
Experts said a spy satellite will help the North stage a precision strike against targets in war situations, as it will enhance the country's surveillance capability, but many still raised doubts about the North's satellite capabilities. South Korea and Japan held their first bilateral disarmament and nonproliferation consultations in five years and called for North Korea to immediately withdraw its plan to launch a military spy satellite, Seoul's foreign ministry said yesterday.
Park Young-hyo, director-general for nuclear nonproliferation and diplomatic planning at the ministry, met with Atsushi Kaifu, director-general of the Japanese foreign ministry's disarmament, non-proliferation and science department, on Jeju Island on Monday, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, the two sides voiced concerns about North Korea's heightened nuclear threat and its plan to launch a spy satellite in the coming weeks.
The officials urged the North to scrap the launch, which they said is a serious violation of UN Security Council resolutions that prohibit all launches using ballistic missile technology.
They also exchanged views on challenges to the international disarmament and nonproliferation regime, and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in related areas.
The meeting on nonproliferation was held for the first time since 2018, as relations between the two countries have thawed under the current Yoon Suk Yeol administration.