SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea announced plans Monday to launch a rocket carrying what appears to be a second military spy satellite by early next week, drawing immediate and strong condemnation from neighboring South Korea and Japan.
The notification of the plans for the launch, banned by UN resolutions, was made as South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Seoul. First Trilateral Meeting It’s been more than four years.
Japan’s Coast Guard said it had been notified of North Korea’s plans to launch a “satellite rocket,” and a safety alert was issued in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and China and east of the Philippine island of Luzon from Monday until late night on June 3.
North Korea provides launch information to Japan because Japan’s Japan Coast Guard coordinates and distributes maritime safety information in East Asia.
North Korea’s planned launch is likely an attempt to put into orbit its second military reconnaissance satellite. South Korea’s military said on Friday that there were signs of preparations for a spy satellite launch at its main launch site in Tongchang-ri in northwestern North Korea.
The United Nations bans any satellite launches by North Korea, which it sees as a pretext for testing long-range missile technology. North Korea adamantly maintains it has the right to launch satellites and test missiles. It argues that spy satellites allow it to better monitor U.S. and South Korean movements and improve the precision strike capabilities of its nuclear-capable missiles.
“Any launch by North Korea using ballistic missile technology would be a direct violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and would undermine regional and global peace and security,” Yoon said at the start of his talks with Foreign Minister Kishida and Premier Li Keqiang. “If North Korea goes ahead with the launch despite international warnings, I believe the international community must respond sternly.”
Foreign Minister Kishida said he strongly urged North Korea to halt its launch plans. China is an ally of North Korea, and Foreign Minister Li did not comment on North Korea’s launch plans.
In a phone call early Monday, senior officials from Japan, South Korea and the United States agreed to urge North Korea to cancel the satellite launch, which South Korea’s Unification Ministry called a “provocative act that seriously threatens the security of our country and the region.”
Last November, North Korea The first military reconnaissance satellite North Korea plans to launch the satellite into orbit as part of efforts to build a space surveillance network to counter growing U.S.-led military threats. Kim Jong Un later said at a year-end party congress that the country was 3 additional military spy satellites 2024.
There is widespread doubt whether North Korea’s satellites are capable of producing militarily meaningful images, but some civilian experts say a fleet of satellites could help North Korea keep constant surveillance of large targets.
The latest launch notification to Japan identifies the same danger zones for possible rocket debris that were identified before North Korea’s previous launch.
Chang Yong-geun, a missile expert at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Strategy, said this suggested North Korea might use the same first and second stages of the rocket as before.
Chang said the three satellites launched this year would allow North Korea to obtain more frequent images of South Korea, Japan and the U.S. territory of Guam.
Since 2022, North Korea has been conducting provocative missile tests aimed at modernizing and expanding its arsenal, as the United States, South Korea and Japan strengthen their security ties. Experts say North Korea likely believes its arsenal will give it more leverage in future diplomacy with the United States.
North Korea was not on the official agenda for Monday’s three-way meeting between Yoon, Kishida and Ri.
But in his bilateral meeting with Ri on Sunday, Yoon’s office said he urged China to contribute to promoting peace on the Korean peninsula as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and also spoke about North Korea’s nuclear program and deepening military ties with Russia.
South Korea, Japan and the United States have long urged China, North Korea’s main ally and economic conduit, to use its influence to persuade the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions. But China has avoided fully implementing UN sanctions on North Korea and is suspected of secretly sending aid to help its impoverished neighbor.
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Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report.
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