Condemning US and South Korean Military Activities, North Korea Launches Spy Satellite Next Month

JAKARTA - North Korea will launch its first military reconnaissance satellite next June, to monitor the military activities of the United States, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday.

In a statement carried by the KCNA news agency, Ri Pyong-chol, deputy chairman of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Military Commission, denounced the joint military drills by the United States and South Korea, which openly demonstrate "reckless ambition for aggression."

US and South Korean troops have carried out various drills in recent months, including what they said was the largest ever joint firing exercise last week, after many of the drills were scaled back amid COVID-19 restrictions and hopes for a diplomatic effort with North Korea.

Ri said the drills required Pyongyang to have "means capable of gathering information on the military actions of the enemy in real-time."

"We will comprehensively consider current and future threats and practice more thorough activities to strengthen a comprehensive and practical war deterrent," Ri said in the statement cited by Reuters, May 30.

Nuclear-armed North Korea says it has completed the development of its first military spy satellite, and leader Kim Jong-un has approved final preparations for its launch.

The statement did not give an exact launch date, but North Korea had informed Japan of the planned launch between May 31 and June 11, prompting Tokyo to put its ballistic missile defenses on alert.

Not only that, in response, Japan said it would shoot down any projectiles that threatened its territory.

"The (North Korean) satellite launch uses technology that is almost identical and compatible with that used for ballistic missiles, and regardless of the designation used by North Korea, we believe that the satellite launch planned this time also uses ballistic missile technology," the Chief Secretary said. Japan's Cabinet, Hirokazu Matsuno, on Tuesday.

Separately, a US State Department spokeswoman said on Monday any North Korean launch using ballistic missile technology, including one used to put a satellite in orbit, would violate several UN resolutions.

The launch will be the latest in a series of missile launches and weapons tests by North Korea, including one of the solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles launched last month.

Meanwhile, analysts say the satellite will enhance North Korea's surveillance capabilities, enabling it to strike targets more accurately in the event of war.