North Korea to launch spy satellite again

TOKYO — North Korea told Japan on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023, that it will make a third attempt to launch a military spy satellite in the coming days, prompting its neighbors to issue an urgent request for the North not to perform the launch in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Japan’s coast guard said North Korea notified Tokyo of its plan to launch the satellite sometime between Wednesday, Nov. 22 and Nov. 30.

The notice identified three maritime zones where debris from the rocket carrying the satellite may fall. Two are in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and China and the third in the Philippine Sea, Japanese coast guard spokesperson Kazuo Ogawa said.

Ogawa said the areas are the same as North Korea identified for its failed satellite launches in May and August, implying the third attempt would have a similar flight path. North Korea has given Japan the launch information because Japan’s coast guard coordinates and distributes maritime safety information in East Asia.

The North’s notification came a day after rival South Korea warned it to cancel its launch or face consequences. South Korea’s military suggested Seoul would suspend a 2018 inter-Korean agreement to reduce tensions and resume front-line aerial surveillance and live-firing drills in response to a North Korean satellite launch.

U.N. Security Council resolutions ban any satellite launches by North Korea because they are seen as a cover for testing its missile technology. North Korea says it needs a space-based surveillance system to better monitor its rivals, but South Korea says the North’s launches are also designed to enhance its long-range missile program.

Since last year, North Korea has carried out about 100 missile tests as part of its efforts to modernize its arsenal of nuclear-capable weapons targeting the United States and its allies. Many foreign experts say the North still has a few remaining technological hurdles to possess functioning nuclear-tipped missiles.