[News] North Korea confirms its intention to launch a spy satellite

[-CosmiNNe]

North Korea confirmed, on Tuesday, that it intends to launch a satellite for military espionage purposes in June (June) to “counter the dangerous military moves of the United States,” while Japan suspects that it is a camouflaged missile launch. The official North Korean News Agency quoted Ri Pyong Chol, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission in the ruling party, as saying that the “Military Reconnaissance Satellite No. 1” will “be launched in June” with the aim of “confronting the dangerous military moves of the United States and its followers.”

Also, the North Korean official accused the United States of carrying out "hostile aerial espionage activities in and around the Korean Peninsula." Japanese officials said Monday that Pyongyang had told them it would launch a satellite starting this week, warning that they believe Kim Jong-un's regime is in fact planning to test a ballistic missile in defiance of international sanctions. Tokyo said Pyongyang had informed the Japanese Coast Guard that it would launch the missile between May 31 and June 11, and that the waters near the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and east of Luzon Island in the Philippines are therefore dangerous areas.

And as the North Korean official accused both the United States and South Korea of carrying out "reckless" actions, he explained that his country felt "the need to expand means of reconnaissance and information and improve various defensive and offensive weapons" in an attempt to enhance its military readiness. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, "Even if it is described as a satellite, the launch using ballistic missile technology constitutes a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a serious problem that threatens people's safety."

And the Japanese Ministry of Defense issued instructions to the Air Force to destroy any ballistic missile that is sure to fall in the waters of Japan or on its territory. The ministry said that it would allow its forces to use "SM3" missiles and "Patriot PAK-3" missiles to shoot down medium-altitude missiles.

On the other hand, the Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement that "North Korea's alleged launch of a satellite constitutes a serious violation of Security Council resolutions that prohibit all launches using ballistic missile technology, and it is clearly an illegal act that cannot be justified under any pretext." The communication strategy adopted by Pyongyang, based on informing Japan only, without South Korea, of upcoming launches, may be linked to large-scale joint exercises between Seoul and Washington that took place last Thursday, only 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border, analyst Chung told AFP. Seung-chang is of the Center for North Korean Studies at Sejong Institute. In addition, Chung noted that Seoul "described North Korea as an (enemy) in a defense document in February. North Korea does not like Japan, but now it has more reasons to hate Seoul.

For weeks, Seoul and Tokyo have been repairing their strained relations and focusing on strengthening their cooperation in the face of North Korean military threats. However, Japan's prime minister reiterated Monday that he is open to any talks with Pyongyang, which official North Korean media reported appears to be accepting of a conciliatory approach to relations with Japan, an unusual stance in the self-isolating country.

North Korea conducted ballistic missile tests in 2012 and then in 2016, in operations it described as satellite launch experiments. On that day, the missiles flew over Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan. Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP that Pyongyang "justifies and legitimizes the upcoming launch of a military reconnaissance satellite by referring to joint (military) exercises between the United States and South Korea." He pointed out that satellites and ballistic missiles use the same technology, even if they are not used for the same purposes. "If North Korea launches a satellite, this will constitute a violation of UN Security Council resolutions that prohibit any launches that use ballistic missile technology," he said. The development of a spy satellite is part of Pyongyang's major defense plans announced by leader Kim Jong Un last year. On May 16, the North Korean leader inspected a workshop in which this satellite was being built and gave the green light to a "future action plan" regarding it.

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