North Korea confirmed on Monday that it will launch a spy satellite in June to monitor the military movements of the United States and its partners in real time, the official KCNA news agency announced on Tuesday.
The “No. 1 military reconnaissance satellite” will be “launched in June” to “confront dangerous military actions by the United States and its vassals,” Ri Pyong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling party’s central military commission, was quoted as saying by KCNA.
Japan said Monday that Pyongyang had notified it that it planned to launch a “satellite” in the coming weeks.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s office said on Twitter Monday that his country’s authorities believed the launch would involve a “ballistic missile.”
According to Tokyo, Pyongyang informed the Japanese coast guard that it will launch a rocket between May 31 and June 11, which will fall into the waters of the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea or the east of Luzon Island, in the Philippines. .
The satellite, together with “several reconnaissance means that must be tested, are essential to track, monitor (…) and deal in advance and in real time with the dangerous military acts of the United States and its vassal forces,” according to the North Korean leader. .
Ri cited “reckless” actions by Washington and Seoul to say that Pyongyang feels “the need to expand reconnaissance and information means and upgrade various defensive and offensive weapons, in order to improve its military readiness.”
The senior official also accused the United States of conducting “aerial espionage activities on the Korean Peninsula and its neighborhood,” according to KCNA.
“Future Action Plan”
North Korean ballistic missile tests in 2012 and 2016 were dubbed satellite launches, and both flew over the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.
North Korea has intensified its missile launches in recent months, some of which activated emergency systems in parts of Japan.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this month inspected the country’s first military spy satellite preparing to be launched, and gave his approval to its “plan for future action.”
Kim noted last year that the development of a reconnaissance satellite was one of Pyongyang’s top defense projects.
Because long-range rockets and space launchers share the same technology, analysts say developing the ability to put a satellite in orbit allows Pyongyang to cover up tests of its banned intercontinental ballistic missiles.
South Korea’s foreign ministry condemned the North’s launch plans.
“North Korea’s so-called ‘satellite launch’ is a serious violation of UN Security Council resolutions, which prohibit any launch using ballistic missile technology, and is a clearly illegal act that cannot be justified under any circumstances.” pretext,” the South Korean ministry said.