(Seoul) South Korea on Wednesday partially suspended a military agreement with North Korea, which announced that it had put a spy satellite into orbit in violation of UN resolutions.
A rocket that took off Tuesday evening followed the planned trajectory “and managed to put the Malligyong-1 satellite into its orbit,” the official North Korean agency KCNA announced on Wednesday.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) – North Korea’s official name – plans to launch more satellites “in a short period of time” to strengthen its surveillance capabilities over South Korea, KCNA added.
“The launch of a reconnaissance satellite is a legitimate right of the DPRK to strengthen its self-defense capabilities,” underlined the agency as the country considers itself threatened by South Korea and the United States.
The general staff of the South Korean army clarified for its part that it was analyzing this launch, and could not yet confirm that the satellite had indeed been placed in orbit.
Japan also said it could not confirm “at this stage” whether it would go into orbit.
Japan’s Defense Ministry “is analyzing” the North Korean launch, Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said Wednesday, adding that Pyongyang’s rapid development of “its missile technologies and capabilities operational” should neither be “tolerated” nor “neglected”.
North Korea had already tried twice, without success, to put a satellite into orbit, last May and August.
Agreement partially suspended
South Korea reacted by announcing the partial suspension of a military agreement signed with North Korea on September 19, 2018 to reduce tensions along the highly secure inter-Korean border, in particular by creating maritime “buffer zones”.
A spokesperson for the South Korean government told AFP that Seoul had not been able to directly notify Pyongyang of the suspension of this agreement, because “lines of communication with North Korea are cut”.
The satellite launch was also condemned by the United States, Japan and the United Nations.
“Any launch by North Korea that uses ballistic missile technology is contrary to Security Council resolutions” of the United Nations, underlined the deputy spokesperson for UN chief Antonio Guterres, Farhan Haq, in a press release.
“Even if they call it a satellite, launching an object that uses ballistic missile technology is clearly a violation of United Nations resolutions,” said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
This shot is “a flagrant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, increases tensions and risks destabilizing the region and beyond,” also reacted the spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House .
The launch comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested in September, after a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, that his country could help Pyongyang build satellites.
Seoul and Washington later claimed Pyongyang was shipping weapons to Russia, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning that military ties between North Korea and Russia were “increasingly numerous and dangerous”.
Experts say successfully orbiting a spy satellite would improve North Korea’s intelligence-gathering capabilities, particularly over South Korea, and provide crucial data in the event of a military conflict.
South Korea, for its part, plans to launch its first spy satellite, via a SpaceX rocket, during the month of November.