North says latest launch was for satellite system

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North says latest launch was for satellite system

Published: 28 Feb. 2022, 18:10

North Korea test-fires its intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), Hwasong-12, on Jan. 30 in photos released by its state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Jan. 31. The photos show the missile launched from a transporter erector launcher (TEL) and images taken by a camera installed on the missile warhead from space. [KCNA]

North Korea's state news agency said Monday that the country's test launch on Sunday was for the development of a reconnaissance satellite system.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) did not specify what kind of missile had been used in the launch, but the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday that the projectile was “presumed to be a ballistic missile” launched into the East Sea at 7:52 a.m. Sunday. The missile flew some 300 kilometers (186 miles) with an altitude reaching 620 kilometers.

This is the North’s eighth missile test since the start of the year, coming 10 days before the South's presidential election. Its last test was on Jan. 30, when it test-fired Hwasong-12, an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM).

Under resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is banned from conducting any ballistic missile tests, including satellite launches, which use the same technology.

The KCNA reported that Sunday’s test helped confirm the accuracy of high definition photographing and data transmission systems through “vertical and oblique photographing of a specific area on earth” with cameras to be loaded on a potential reconnaissance satellite.

“The test is of great significance in developing the reconnaissance satellite,” the KCNA said.

State media also released two photos showing the Korean Peninsula from space, similar to those published after the Jan. 30 missile test.

The Hwasong-12 IRBM fired in that test featured a camera fitted to the missile’s nose cone.

Development of a military reconnaissance satellite is one of the military goals set by leader Kim Jong-un last year.

It remains unclear, however, if Sunday’s test contributed significantly to the regime’s progress towards that aim.

“This wasn't a space launch. Instead, it seems [North Korea] tested the camera on a missile fired on a suborbital trajectory,” Jeffrey Lewis, a missile researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said on Twitter, adding, “The images released are very low resolution and similar to other images we've seen from DPRK missile launches.”

DPRK is the acronym for the North's full name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

While calling the test “weird,” Lewis said the test “does, however, remind us that Kim Jong-un committed to launching a military reconnaissance satellite at the last meeting of the Worker's Party Congress.

“In general, it confirms that we should expect a North Korean space launch sooner or later.”

Pyongyang’s push to advance its space technology comes as Seoul plans to test its own solid-fuel space projectile in March as part of a project to deploy its own military surveillance satellites to monitor the North, according to Yonhap.

Sunday’s test, which comes at a time of heightened international tensions due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, drew condemnation from both Seoul and the wider international community.

In a statement released Sunday after a National Security Council meeting, the Blue House said participants “pointed out during the meeting that launching a ballistic missile at a time when the world is working toward resolving the Ukraine war is never desirable for peace and stability in the world or in the Korean Peninsula and its region.”

The United States, Britain, France and three other Security Council members plan to raise the North’s latest launch during a closed-door council meeting on Monday.

North Korea’s previous space rocket launches have been criticized by the United States and its allies as excuses to test ballistic missile technology.

Although North Korea previously placed at least two satellites into orbit — the last in 2016 — neither is considered to be working, according to U.S. military authorities.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]