NK  NEWS




 

Notice comes after DPRK reportedly told International Maritime Organization it plans to conduct launch as soon as May 31

Japan’s prime minister issued a warning Monday about an impending North Korean satellite launch, after the Japanese coast guard reportedly announced Pyongyang plans to launch a satellite into waters near the Korean Peninsula as early as May 31.

Fumio Kishida pledged to work with the U.S. and South Korea to call on North Korea to exercise “restraint” and desist from launching a “ballistic missile” under the guise of a satellite launch, according to a cabinet office press release.

The prime minister’s warning followed a Japanese Coast Guard announcement that a satellite launch between May 31 and June 11 could impact the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and the waters near Philippines’ northern Luzon island.

Citing Japanese officials, local media reported that the announcement came in response to North Korea notifying the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of a planned satellite launch between the above dates.

North Korea does not issue such notifications for its missile launches, but it has previously been known to inform international authorities such as the IMO before launching satellites.

The reported plan to launch the satellite comes less than two weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un approved a launch action plan for the country’s first military reconnaissance satellite.

The leader has made deploying such a satellite a major objective for strengthening North Korea’s defense capabilities, framing it as an essential resource to counter U.S. and South Korean military activities in the region.

North Korea has made rapid progress on the satellite’s development since declaring after an initial test in Dec. 2022 that the satellite would be completed by April. Kim reportedly inspected the “completed” satellite in April, though state media has not specified an expected launch date.

Construction and modernization efforts at the country’s main Sohae spaceport were initially slow earlier this year. But satellite imagery has shown rapid development at the launch site in recent weeks, and Stimson Center senior fellow Martyn Williams told NK News it is “absolutely possible” that North Korea will conduct the launch during the window reported by Japanese authorities.

“The pace of construction has been very fast,” he told NK News. “We can expect to see the rocket being moved into position in the coming days.”
State media reported earlier this month that the spy satellite is ready to be loaded after a general assembly inspection and space environment test.

North Korea’s choice of rocket for this launch remains unknown, but experts previously told NK News that Pyongyang is likely to make use of its expanded ballistic missile capabilities for this launch, rather than relying on the “primitive” Unha rocket used for its last satellite launch in 2016. 

Following Prime Minister Kishida’s warning, Tokyo’s defense minister ordered the military to prepare “destructive measures” against possible North Korean ballistic missile debris that could fall within Japanese territory.

These measures include the deployment of SM-3 and PAC-3 missile defense systems.

The order is in line with a similar directive issued after North Korea reported the satellite’s completion last month, although an expert told NK News at the time that tracking the missile debris would be challenging.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s National Security Council convened an emergency meeting in response to North Korea’s planned launch and said it will “keep a close eye on relevant trends.”

In a statement, Seoul’s foreign ministry government “strongly warned” North Korea against pushing ahead with its “provocations” and called on it to abandon its “illegal launch plan” in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

“If North Korea eventually goes ahead with the launch, it will have to pay the price and suffer,” the ministry said.