South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported Thursday morning that a missile had been launched from North Korea’s capital region toward eastern waters. However, the launch is believed to have ended in failure.
The launch was North Korea’s first known weapons launch in more than two months. It followed South Korea’s announcement earlier on Wednesday that it had decided to partially suspend the inter-Korean agreement and resume surveillance flights along the border in response to North Korea’s satellite launch.
On Thursday, North Korea criticised South Korea’s actions, saying it would deploy more powerful and new weapons along the border in response to the tit-for-tat measure.
South Korea, the United States and Japan strongly condemned North Korea’s satellite launch on Tuesday night as they believed it was aimed at improving the country’s missile technology as well as its space surveillance system.
UN Security Council resolutions ban North Korea from any satellite launches, considering them a cover for testing its long-range missile technology. The North, in turn, claims it has the sovereign right to launch satellites.
South Korea’s military stated that it estimated the satellite had reached orbit. However, the company admitted it needed more time to see if it was operational. Earlier, the Pentagon claimed it was assessing the success of the launch, while Japan said it had not received confirmation of the DPRK’s report that the satellite had entered orbit.
North Korea’s space agency reported that its Malligyong-1 satellite was put into orbit on Tuesday night, about 12 minutes after the liftoff, with the country’s leader Kim Jong-un watching the launch on site.
He later visited the Pyongyang control centre of North Korea’s space agency, where he was informed that the satellite would officially begin its reconnaissance mission from December 1 after a period of fine-tuning, according to state media.
North Korea used the same satellite in two failed launches in May and August. South Korea’s military retrieved the wreckage after the first launch and assessed at the time that the satellite was not sophisticated enough for military reconnaissance.
Before Tuesday’s launch, South Korean officials said North Korea was likely receiving Russian technological support for its spy satellite launch programme as part of the two countries’ efforts to reinforce their partnership.
The spy satellite is among the sophisticated weapons systems Kim wants to acquire. Experts say he will eventually seek to use his expanded arsenal to secure the lifting of sanctions and other concessions from the US when diplomacy resumes.
Some civilian experts argued that the North Korean satellite could only detect large targets such as warships or aircraft. However, they added that by using several such satellites, North Korea would still be able to constantly monitor South Korea, which contributed to the growing hostility on the Korean Peninsula.
