Strong international condemnation has erupted against North Korea as the secretive regime declared that it would launch a rocket, likely carrying its second military spy satellite, at some point during an eight-day window opening Monday. Critics say this is in defiance of UN resolutions and will needlessly raise tensions as South Korea and Japan rebuked this move in strong words.
The development came just when South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were holding meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Seoul, marking the first such trilateral meeting since more than four years ago. North Korea is set to launch what it says is its second military spy satellite. There is widespread vigilance of the launch in the international community.
“Any launch (by North Korea) using ballistic missile technology would directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions and undermine peace and security of the region and the world,” Yoon said at the opening of a trilateral summit with Kishida and Li. He said that if North Korea goes ahead with the launch in the face of warnings from the international community, there needs to be a corresponding strong reaction from the global community.
North Korea notified Japan’s coast guard that it intended to launch a “satellite rocket” and warned of vigilance in waters between the Korean Peninsula and China, and also east of the main Philippine island of Luzon. Since it is the Japanese Coast Guard that coordinates and distributes maritime safety information in East Asia, North Korea makes the information known to Japan.
The UN has banned North Korea from launching any satellites because it views them as covers for the testing of long-range missile technology. North Korea, on its part, insists it is entitled to launch satellites and test missiles. According to Pyongyang, spy satellites would help it keep a closer eye on what the United States and South Korea are doing and increase the precision strike capability of its nuclear-capable missiles.
Right now, as of November 3, North Korea placed a military spy satellite into orbit for the first time. North Korea will work to build a space-based surveillance network to confront the increasing US-led military threats over North Korea’s territory. Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader, last December said that the country will place three more military spy satellites in orbit in 2024.
While the general assessment is that North Korean satellites cannot produce imagery of military value, some civilian analysts feel that a constellation of satellites would allow North Korea to provide constant coverage over key enemy targets.
For over a year, North Korea has been conducting missiles in what is a course to modernize and increase its weapons arsenal. Experts indicate that an expanded weapons arsenal probably will give North Korea leverage in negotiations with the United States. The US, South Korea, and Japan are going to deepen security ties in response to such actions.
It is with heightened vigilance that the world community looks to see if there is any way, through some intense effort in diplomacy, to defuse the dangerous potential for conflict that at this point characterizes the Korean Peninsula.