North Korea: Japan has stated that North Korea plans to launch a military satellite in the coming days, months after its first effort ended in failure when the satellite crashed into the sea. The office of Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Fumio Kishida noted that Pyongyang had informed Japan of the planned launch. According to reports, Mr. Kishida had instructed his government to work with the United States, South Korea, and other nations to urge its cancellation.
“We strongly urge North Korea to exercise restraint and refrain from conducting a launch,” Mr. Kishida’s office wrote on X.
The Japan Coast Guard remarked that the “satellite rocket launch” would take place between August 24 and 31, with three designated danger areas: the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and waters east of the Philippines’s Luzon island.
In May 2023, Pyongyang launched its first military reconnaissance satellite, but the new ‘Chollima-1’ satellite launch rocket ended in failure. Japan, the US, and South Korea condemned the launch as a breach of United Nations resolutions that prohibit the nuclear-armed state from using ballistic missile technology.
South Korea collected the debris from the May 31 launch in an operation involving a fleet of naval rescue ships, mine sweepers, and deep-sea divers. After analysing the parts, South Korea’s defence ministry commented that the satellite had “no military utility.” North Korean leader Mr. Kim Jong Un has made the development of a military spy satellite a priority of his military modernization plan. The launch was North Korea’s sixth attempt to put a satellite into orbit and the first since 2016.
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