North Korean leader Kim Jong Un examined a completed military spy satellite, which his country is expected to launch soon, during a visit to an aerospace facility where he described space reconnaissance as crucial to countering the United States and South Korea.
During Tuesday’s visit, Kim approved an unspecified «future action plan» in preparations for the satellite’s launch, North Korea’s Central News Agency said on Wednesday. North Korea has not disclosed a target date for the launch, which some analysts say could be in the coming weeks.
That launch would use long-range missile technology prohibited by previous UN Security Council resolutions, although previous missile and rocket tests have shown North Korea’s ability to launch a satellite into space.
However, there are more questions about the capacity of the satellite. Some South Korean analysts say the satellite shown in North Korean state media photos appears too small and crudely designed to support high-resolution images. The photos that the North Korean media published of previous missile launches were of low resolution.
Photos published by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper of the visit on Tuesday showed Kim and his daughter, dressed in white lab coats, talking to scientists near an object that appeared to be the main component of a satellite. The newspaper did not identify the object, which was surrounded by a perimeter of red tape.
KCNA said the satellite was deemed ready to be loaded onto a rocket after scientists examined the device’s assembly and tested it to confirm whether it would withstand the space environment.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said North Korea has yet to inform international telecommunication and maritime authorities of any launch plans. He said the launch of a North Korean satellite would violate several UN Security Council resolutions that ban the North from any launch involving ballistic technologies and «threatens regional peace and stability.»
«The announcement of the satellite launch plan once again shows that the North Korean regime is concerned about continuing its illegal provocations while ignoring the plight of its people,» the ministry said in a statement, referring to the economy. broken North Korea and the deepening of international isolation. .
The visit was Kim’s first public appearance in about a month, following an earlier visit to the aerospace center on April 18 when state media announced the satellite had been built.
Kim said the acquisition of a spy satellite would be crucial to his efforts to bolster the country’s defense as «US imperialists and (South) Korean puppet villains intensify their confrontational moves» against the North, KCNA said.
He was apparently referring to the expansion of joint US-South Korean military exercises and the allies’ discussions of strengthening their nuclear deterrence strategies to deal with threats from North Korea, which has tested around 100 missiles from the beginning of 2022. .
The next step in North Korea’s launch preparations, or «future action plan» mentioned by state media, could be to install the satellite on what would likely be a three-stage space rocket, Kim Dong-yub said, professor at Seoul North University. Korean studies.
Depending on how North Korea’s preparations go, the launch could take place as early as mid-June, although Pyongyang could also time the event for major state anniversaries in July, September or October, the professor said.
Recent commercial satellite images indicate rapid construction activities at North Korea’s northwestern rocket launch facility, where the country last launched a satellite in 2016, the North Korea-focused website 38 North said on Monday. Activities include construction of the facility’s main satellite launch pad and possible efforts to establish a new launch pad at the edge of the site near the sea, 38 North said in its report.
Spy satellites are among a host of advanced weapons systems that Kim Jong Un has vowed to develop. Others on his wish list include solid-fuel ICBMs, nuclear-powered submarines, hypersonic missiles and multiple warhead missiles.
North Korea has tested some of those weapons in recent months, including its first flight test of a solid-fuel ICBM last month, but experts say the North may need more time and technological advances for those systems to work.
Responding to North Korea’s plans to launch a military spy satellite, Japan’s military last month ordered troops to activate missile interceptors and prepare to shoot down fragments of the satellite that might fall on Japanese soil.
North Korea launched its first and second Earth observation satellites into orbit in 2012 and 2016, but foreign experts say neither transmitted images to North Korea. The UN Security Council issued sanctions for those launches.
North Korea has avoided further Security Council sanctions over its recent ballistic tests in 2022 and this year, as Moscow and Beijing continue to block US-led efforts to increase pressure on Pyongyang, underscoring a split among the permanent members. of the council that delved into Russia’s war against Pyongyang. Ukraine.