Nuclear-armed North Korea plans to launch a satellite soon – much to the dismay of Japan and South Korea. Tokyo suspects it to be a long-range ballistic missile and is concerned for the safety of its citizens.
Any North Korean missile launch is a serious violation of UN Security Council resolutions condemning North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday. “We are urging North Korea to abandon the launch,” his office said on Twitter.
Missile defense on readiness
The South Korean foreign ministry also called on North Korea to withdraw the plan. The government in Tokyo had announced that North Korea had informed them of plans to launch a satellite into space between May 31 and June 11. Japan then put its missile defenses on alert and announced that it would shoot down any projectile that threatened its territory.
Concerns about the safety of citizens
Japanese cabinet chief Hirokazu Matsuno said a missile launch by North Korea would compromise the safety of Japanese citizens, even if it was described as a satellite launch. There is a possibility that the satellite will cross the territory of Japan.
North Korea is expected to launch the missile that carries its satellite over the southwestern chain of islands, as it did when the satellite launched in 2016, according to a Defense Ministry spokesman.
Weapon and missile tests
Nuclear-armed North Korea has tested a number of missiles and weapons in recent months, including a new solid-propellant ICBM. According to its own information, the largely isolated country has also completed its first military spy satellite.
Head of state Kim Jong-un inspected a military satellite facility in May, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported. He approved final preparations for a launch. North Korea had previously criticized South Korea’s plan to exchange real-time data on North Korean missile launches with Japan and the United States as “ominous measures” to increase military cooperation.
Source: Krone
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