Pyongyang promises to place more satellites in space. Rocket launch, yesterday/Reuters
North Korea has successfully launched a spy satellite into space, which it says has entered Earth orbit, and has promised to launch another in the near future. In response, South Korea said on Wednesday it had decided to suspend part of a military agreement it signed with Pyongyang in 2018 after the isolated regime violated warnings from the United States and its allies and launched the satellite.
Photos published by North Korean state media showed leader Kim Jong Un watching a rocket launch from a base. According to North Korea's state news agency, the Maligyeong-1 satellite was launched on a Cholima-1 rocket from the Suha satellite launch facility yesterday at 22:42 p.m. and entered orbit at 22:54 p.m.
South Korea and Japan, which first reported the launch, could not immediately verify whether the satellite was in orbit. The Pentagon said the U.S. military was still assessing whether the launch was successful.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is in Britain on a state visit, approved the decision to suspend part of the inter-Korean agreement that prevented Seoul from conducting aerial surveillance in the border area. Yoon earlier led a National Security Council meeting with ministers and the intelligence chief via video conference.
The agreement, known as the "Comprehensive Military Agreement" designed to reduce tensions between the rivals, was signed at a 2018 summit between former South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But critics have called for it to be rescinded, saying it weakens Seoul's ability to monitor North Korea's actions along the border, while Pyongyang blatantly violates the agreement.
Leader Kim Jong Un watches the rocket launch with the satellite/Reuters
North Korea has told Japan it plans to launch a satellite between Wednesday and Dec. 1, after two failed attempts earlier this year. Destroyers equipped with the Agis defense system from South Korea, Japan and the United States were ready to monitor the launch and share information. However, Japan reported that the data-sharing
experiment failed due to technical problems. The three countries have stepped up military cooperation to respond to the North Korean missile threat.
After the launch, a U.S. nuclear submarine docked in a port in South Korea, a day after the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson arrived in the area in a show of force against North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. In the coming days, South Korea plans to send its first spy satellite into space aboard a rocket operated by the American company Space X.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Adrian Watson called the launch a "flagrant violation of many UN Security Council resolutions" and said it "increases tensions and may undermine the security situation in the region and beyond."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on North Korea to fully comply with UN resolutions and urged Pyongyang to return to dialogue.
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Seoul is also preparing to launch its first spy satellite. Kim celebrates with space industry workers/Reuters
Monday's launch is the first since Kim Jong Un met Vladimir Putin at Russia's modern space facility in September, where the Russian president promised to help Pyongyang build satellites. South Korean officials said the latest launch likely included technical assistance from Moscow as part of a growing partnership in which North Korea sent millions of artillery shells to Russia for its war in Ukraine.
However, some missile experts said it was unlikely that Russian technical aid was fully integrated into the satellite or rocket that launched it, and that Moscow would not have shared particularly sensitive technology. Russia and North Korea have denied making arms deals, but they promise deeper military cooperation.
After the last launch attempt in May, South Korea extracted the satellite's wreckage from the sea and said their examination showed it had limited capability as a surveillance device.
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