North Korea continues to defy its southern neighbor and UN resolutions. Pyongyang launched what it says is a military spy satellite toward Seoul after warning Japan of an imminent launch. “North Korea has launched what it claims is a military surveillance satellite in the direction of the South,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Japan, for its part, reported the launch of a missile by North Korea, which Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned with “the greatest firmness possible”. “We have already strongly protested against North Korea,” added Fumio Kishida from his office in Tokyo.
“At the moment we are waiting to find out if there has been any damage. And even if they call it a satellite, launching something that uses ballistic missile technology is clearly a violation of United Nations resolutions,” the Prime Minister said. “This is an important situation that affects the security of the Japanese people. We will continue to gather information and remain vigilant,” he continued. When the launch was announced, the Japanese government briefly ordered residents of the Okinawa region, in the southwest of the archipelago, to take shelter.
Seoul warns
North Korea in August designated three maritime areas likely to be affected by the planned launch at the time: two in the Yellow Sea, west of the Korean Peninsula, and a third in waters to the east. of the Philippines. “The danger zones mentioned by North Korea this time correspond to those announced during their planned satellite launch in August,” commented a South Korean official, quoted by the Yonhap news agency.
Seoul has been warning for weeks that Pyongyang is in the “final stages” of preparing for a new spy satellite launch. On Monday, the South Korean military warned North Korea to “immediately” stop its preparations for such an operation, warning Pyongyang that it would take “necessary measures” if necessary.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol could thus “suspend the September 19 military agreement,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP. This agreement, concluded in 2018 in Pyongyang, aims to reduce military tensions along the highly secure inter-Korean border by creating maritime “buffer zones” Tests of medium- or long-range solid-fuel ballistic missiles by Seoul “ are not to be excluded” either, added Yang Moo-jin.