South Korea on Wednesday suspended parts of a military agreement signed with Pyongyang in 2018 after North Korea launched a spy satellite, ignoring warnings from the US and its allies, calling it a success.
North Korean officials said Tuesday that Pyongyang had put its first spy satellite into orbit. The media released photos showing Head of State Kim Jong Un watching the fiery rocket launch from a base.
Japan and South Korea, which first reported the launch, could not immediately confirm whether the satellite had entered orbit. US spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the US military was still assessing whether the launch was successful.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said in a televised speech Wednesday after a cabinet meeting that the government intends to suspend parts of the inter-Korean pact. President Yoon Suk-yol is in Britain on a state visit. Earlier, he held a National Security Council meeting via videoconference with several ministers and the head of national intelligence.
The pact, known as the Comprehensive Military Agreement and aimed at reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, was signed at a 2018 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
As part of the agreement, the heads of state agreed to establish buffer zones where live-fire exercises would be suspended, as well as no-fly zones, to remove some guard posts from the demilitarised zone separating the countries, and to maintain hotlines and other measures.
But the agreement has come under increasing scrutiny, with critics calling for it to be scrapped or suspended because it limits Seoul’s ability to monitor North Korea’s actions in border areas.
South Korea’s National Security Council said in a statement that the move involves restoring intelligence and surveillance operations around the military demarcation line between the countries.
North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency says the Malligyong-1 satellite was launched by a Chollima-1 rocket from the Sohae spaceport at 22:42 (1342 GMT) on Tuesday and entered orbit at 22:54 (1354 GMT).
Pyongyang had earlier warned Japan that it planned to launch the satellite between Wednesday and 1 December, following two failed attempts to launch spy satellites it called this year.
In brief remarks to reporters upon arrival at his office, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated that the DPRK launch violated UN Security Council resolutions and posed a threat to the safety of Japanese citizens. He said:
“We have strongly protested and condemned North Korea’s actions in the strongest possible terms.”
Earlier Tuesday, Kishida said his country’s defence systems, including Aegis destroyers and PAC-3 air defence missiles, were ready for any “contingency” that might arise.
Japan took no action to destroy the missile, the Coast Guard said, citing the defence ministry. South Korea, Japan and the US coordinated to pre-position Aegis destroyers that monitored the launch and exchanged data, South Korea’s military said.
Tuesday’s launch was the first since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Vladimir Putin at a modern Russian space facility in September, during which the Russian president promised to help Pyongyang build satellites.
South Korea suggests that the latest launch attempt utilised Russian technical assistance as part of an evolving partnership in which North Korea has sent millions of artillery shells to Russia. Lee Choon-geun, a rocket expert at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said:
“We have to see how properly this is being operated.”
North Korea and Russia have publicly pledged to deepen cooperation, but have denied conducting arms deals.
