Global Courant 2023-05-29 03:50:00
SEOUL — North Korea has notified Japan of its plan to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11, a Japan Coast Guard official said Monday.
Analysts say the military satellite is part of nuclear-armed North Korea’s efforts to improve surveillance technology, including drones, to improve its ability to hit targets in the event of conflict.
North Korea has also conducted a series of missile and weapons tests in recent months, including a new intercontinental solid-fuel ballistic missile (ICBM).
North Korea has notified the Japan Coast Guard of the planned launch, the coast guard official told Reuters, confirming previous reports from public broadcaster NHK and other Japanese media.
Japan’s prime minister’s office urged North Korea to refrain from launching, saying it would work closely with allies.
“We strongly urge North Korea to refrain from launching while cooperating with relevant countries such as the US and South Korea,” Japan’s prime minister’s office said in a tweet Monday.
The office said the Japanese government would make every effort to collect and analyze information from the launch.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency published the same report, citing the Japanese Coast Guard.
Earlier in May, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected a military satellite facility, his administration’s state media KCNA reported, as Pyongyang said work on its first spy satellite had been completed.
The KCNA report said Mr Kim had approved the next steps of the non-permanent satellite launch preparation committee.
North Korean media had previously criticized plans by South Korea, the United States and Japan to share real-time data on Pyongyang’s missile launches. REUTERS
