Global Courant 2023-05-24 05:00:00
SEOUL – The two Koreas are engaged in a space race.
The north is upgrading its space center to meet increased demands from leader Kim Jong Un, who boasted last month that the country had completed its first military reconnaissance satellite and called for it to be launched into orbit for US troops and their allies in Asia.
Given the progress Pyongyang has made in developing long-range missiles, North Korea has a good chance of success.
The country’s space agency, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, is at the forefront of “building a space force,” state media reported, with the goal of “exploring and conquering space our own way.”
All this causes alarm 195 km away in Seoul. South Korea is working on its own missile program, with the first deployment of commercial satellites to orbit scheduled for Wednesday aboard the locally made Nuri missile.
“There’s definitely a rivalry between the two Koreas in terms of what they’re trying to put up in space,” said military historian David Silbey, director of teaching and learning at the program at Cornell University in Washington.
A major concern is that a successful launch by North Korea could boost Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
“One of the things that satellites are used for is targeting nuclear weapons,” said Prof. Silbey. “It’s worth being really nervous about North Korea having this kind of high-end capability.”
Earlier this month, Kim visited a facility where North Korea’s first spy satellite was being assembled, an indication that the state will conduct its first space rocket launch in about seven years.
During the last launch in February 2016, the country said it had launched an Earth observation satellite into orbit, although outside observers questioned the claim.
While the country is barred by United Nations Security Council resolutions from conducting ballistic missile tests, Pyongyang has long claimed it has the right to a civilian space program for satellite launches.
The US and its partners have warned that technology derived from North Korea’s space program could be used to improve its ballistic missile technology.
“If North Korea can successfully launch an imaging satellite into orbit, I have no doubt they will use the images to refine their target list,” said David Schmerler, a senior research fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation. Studies. , said.
