North Korea has confirmed it will launch a spy satellite in June to monitor the military movements of the United States and its allies in real time, state news agency KCNA announced Monday.
The “military reconnaissance satellite number 1” will be “launched in June” to monitor “the dangerous military actions of the US and its vassal forces,” said Ri Pyong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling party’s central military commission, quoted by the KCNA.
That satellite and the “several reconnaissance assets that will soon be tested are indispensable to detect, monitor and face in advance in real time the dangerous military actions of the US and its vassal forces,” Pyongyang said.
Referring to “reckless” actions by Washington and Seoul, Ri Pyong Chol said North Korea “felt the need to expand reconnaissance and intelligence assets and improve various defensive and offensive weapons” in an effort to bolster military readiness.
The North Korean official also accused the US of conducting “hostile aerial espionage activities on the Korean peninsula”.
North Korea has informed Japan that it will launch a missile between May 31 and June 11, designating waters near the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and east of Luzon Island in the Philippines as warning zones said a Japanese Coast Guard spokesperson. told AFP.
In 2012 and 2016, Pyongyang tested ballistic missiles in so-called satellite launches. Both flew over the Okinawa region of southern Japan.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this month inspected the country’s first military spy satellite, ready for launch, and gave the go-ahead for his “future plan of action”.
The images released showed the satellite deliberately out of focus, placed on a platform and connected by cables, while Kim and her daughter, in caps, white smocks and with covers that cover their shoes to prevent dirt from entering the housing, receive explanations from scientists.
Doubts have been raised about the satellite’s capability, with some South Korean analysts claiming that it appears too small and poorly designed in public photos to support high-resolution imaging.
Photos released by North Korean media of past missile launches were low-resolution.
At the time, Kim approved “the future action plan of the preparatory committee” and noted that “the successful launch of the military reconnaissance satellite is an urgent requirement given the current security situation in the country” and added that it also represents “a clear step forward in the “field of space research” for North Korea, the agency noted.
The North Korean leader also stated at the time: “While the American imperialists and the South Korean puppet thugs desperately intensify the campaign of confrontation with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. [nome oficial da Coreia do Norte]it will exercise its sovereignty and right of self-defense in a more dignified and offensive manner to prevent them resolutely and to defend the state”.
Late last year, the North Korean regime launched a test device aboard an undisclosed missile that reportedly captured images of the South Korean capital of Seoul and the neighboring port city of Incheon. satellite completed in April.
Work has recently resumed on the modernization of the space launch site in Sohae, in the northwest of the country, although experts believe there is still a lot of work to be done before a satellite can be launched from there.
Some experts, quoted by the Efe news agency, do not rule out that the regime will choose to launch this reconnaissance satellite from a mobile platform.
With Lusa
Source: DN
