North Korea launches rocket likely connected to military spy satellite: South Korea

North Korea allegedly fired a rocket Wednesday, a day after the country announced plans to launch its first military spy satellite into space, according to South Korea’s military.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South did not immediately release any information. Following the launch, officials in South Korea’s capital of Seoul issued evacuation alerts over public speakers and smartphones, although there were no immediate indications of damage or interruption.

North Korea warned Japan’s coast guard on Monday of a plan to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11. Japan’s defence minister had directed that any satellite or debris that reached Japanese territory be shot down.

A satellite launch by North Korea is a violation of UN Security Council resolutions that ban the country from using ballistic technology because it’s regarded as a cover for missile tests.

Ri Pyong Chol, a top North Korean official and close associate of leader Kim Jong Un, had said on Tuesday that North Korea was compelled to secure “a reliable reconnaissance and information” system because of what it said were escalating security threats by the United States and its allies. He said the North would launch a spy satellite in June.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether a North Korean spy satellite would significantly bolster its defenses. The satellite disclosed in the country’s state-run media didn’t appear to be sophisticated enough to produce high-resolution imagery. But some experts note that it is still likely capable of detecting troop movements and big targets, such as warships and warplanes.

Recent commercial satellite imagery of the North’s main rocket launch centre in the northwest showed active construction activities indicating that North Korea plans to launch more than one satellite, however.

And in his statement Tuesday, Ri said the country it would be testing “various reconnaissance means.” He said those surveillance assets are tasked with “tracking, monitoring, discriminating, controlling” and responding, both in advance and real time, to moves by the United States and its allies.

According to Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, North Korea might create a space-based surveillance system that allows it to watch the Korean Peninsula in near real-time with three to five spy satellites.

Earlier this month, during a visit to the country’s aerospace department, Kim emphasised the strategic importance of a spy satellite in North Korea’s standoff with the US and South Korea.

The satellite is one of a number of high-tech military systems that Kim has publicly promised to deploy in recent years. He has also promised to construct a multi-warhead missile, a nuclear submarine, a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, and a hypersonic missile.

Denuclearization talks with the US have been stalled since early 2019. In the meantime, Kim has focused on expanding his nuclear and missile arsenals in what experts say is an attempt to wrest concessions from Washington and Seoul. Since the beginning of 2022, North Korea has conducted more than 100 missile tests, many of them involving nuclear-capable weapons targeting the U.S. mainland, South Korea and Japan.

North Korea says its testing activities are self-defense measures meant to respond to expanded military drills between Washington and Seoul that it views as invasion rehearsals. US and South Korean officials say their drills are defensive and they’ve bolstered them to cope with growing nuclear threats by North Korea.