Seoul: During a visit to the country's aerospace agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looked at a completed military spy satellite that his nation is expected to launch soon and discussed the importance of space-based reconnaissance for battling the US and South Korea.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency of North Korea, Kim approved an unnamed "future action plan" during his visit there on Tuesday. The launch's target date, which some analysts speculate may be in the coming weeks, has not been disclosed by North Korea.
Although previous missile and rocket tests have shown North Korea's capability to launch a satellite into space, that launch would make use of long-range missile technology that has been outlawed by UN Security Council resolutions in the past.
But there are still more uncertainties regarding the satellite's capabilities. The satellite depicted in images from North Korean state media, according to some South Korean analysts, appears too small and shoddily constructed to support high-resolution imagery. Low-resolution images from previous missile launches were distributed by North Korean media.
In pictures from the visit, which took place on Tuesday, Kim and his daughter could be seen conversing with scientists close to an object that appeared to be a satellite's primary component while wearing white lab coats. The object was surrounded by red tape and was not named in the newspaper.
According to KCNA, scientists examined the satellite's assembly and put it through tests to determine whether it would withstand the conditions of space before deciding it was ready to be loaded onto a rocket.
Following a previous visit to the aerospace centre on April 18 as state media announced that the satellite had been built, this was Kim's first public appearance in roughly a month.
In order to strengthen the nation's defence, Kim said acquiring a spy satellite would be essential, according to KCNA, as "US imperialists and (South) Korean puppet villains) escalate their confrontational moves" against the North.
He was apparently making reference to the expansion of joint military drills between the US and South Korea as well as the allies' discussions on bolstering their nuclear deterrence strategies to counter threats from North Korea, which has conducted about 100 missile tests since the beginning of 2022.
According to Kim Dong-yub, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, the next stage in North Korea's launch preparations, or the "future action plan" state media mentioned, could be mounting the satellite on what would probably be a three-stage space rocket.
The launch could take place as early as mid-June, depending on how North Korean preparations go. However, Pyongyang might time the event to coincide with significant state anniversaries that fall in July, September, or October, the professor said.
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The North Korea-focused 38 North website reported on Monday that recent commercial satellite images show rapid construction activities at North Korea's northwest rocket launch facility, where the country last carried out a satellite launch in 2016. Construction on the facility's primary satellite launch pad and potential efforts to establish a new launch pad at the site's edge near the sea are among the activities, according to 38 North's report.
Among the many cutting-edge weapons systems Kim Jong Un has promised to develop are spy satellites. Other items on his wish list include multiwarhead missiles, hypersonic missiles, nuclear-powered submariners, and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles.
North Korea has conducted some of these tests recently, including the first flight test of a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile last month. However, experts believe the North may need more time and advancements in technology to complete the development of these systems.
Japan's military last month ordered troops to activate missile interceptors and get ready to shoot down satellite fragments that may fall on Japanese territory in response to North Korea's plans to launch a military spy satellite.
In 2012 and 2016, North Korea launched its first and second Earth observation satellites, but according to outside experts, neither one returned images to the country. Regarding those launches, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions.
As Moscow and Beijing continue to obstruct US-led efforts to ratchet up pressure on Pyongyang, North Korea has escaped new Security Council sanctions for its recent ballistic tests in 2022 and this year, highlighting a divide between the council's permanent members that deepened over Russia's war on Ukraine