A statement from Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s office said Pyongyang had notified Japan of the planned launch, adding that he had instructed his government to work with the United States, South Korea and other countries to urge North Korea to cancel the launch.
The Japanese Coast Guard said that the “launch of the satellite-carrying rocket” will take place between August 24 and 31, with three vulnerable areas identified as the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the waters east of the Philippine island of Luzon.
Pyongyang tried in May to put what it described as its first military reconnaissance satellite into Earth orbit, but the missile carrying it fell into the sea minutes after launch.
North Korea says it developed the spy satellite in order to strike a necessary balance with the growing US military presence in the region.
The United States, South Korea and Japan condemned North Korea’s launch of the satellite at the time as a violation of United Nations resolutions that prohibit the isolated nuclear state from using ballistic missile technologies.
North Korea’s ambition in the field of satellites
• Analysts indicated that there is a technical overlap to a large extent between intercontinental ballistic missiles and those launched into space.
• North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made the development of spy satellites a top priority.
• South Korea’s intelligence agency informed a parliamentary committee last week that Pyongyang is preparing to launch a satellite either in late August or early September, according to Yonhap news agency.
• It is scheduled, according to the agency, that the launch will take place before the 75th anniversary of the founding of North Korea on September 9.
• The satellite’s crash in May at sea required a complex South Korean operation to retrieve it, which took 36 days and involved a fleet of rescue ships and divers.
• American and South Korean experts analyzed the recovered parts, as the South Korean Ministry of Defense later reported that the satellite had no military feasibility.
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2023-08-22 01:58:18
