SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Tuesday that it had successfully put its first military spy satellite into orbit after two recent failures, on the same day a U.S. carrier strike group docked in South Korea. The two developments underscored evolving tensions in Northeast Asia.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launch of what North Korea has described as a military spy satellite from Pyongyang’s main space center on Tuesday night. Officials said it flew above international waters off the Korean Peninsula’s west coast and led the Japanese government to warn residents in Okinawa along its flight path to take cover for a brief period.
The apparent placing of the satellite in orbit, reportedly witnessed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un himself, follows the tightening of ties between North Korea and Russia. Some experts say the alliance could provide the Kim regime with new, more sophisticated satellite-launch technologies in exchange for munitions to bolster Russia’s invasion forces in Ukraine.
South Korean and Japanese officials said they could not verify Pyongyang’s claim that the latest launch had successfully put its Malligyong-1 satellite into orbit on Tuesday night. The North said more such satellites were planned in the future.
North Korea’s official state media said Tuesday that the regime had launched the latest satellite in “self-defense,” describing it as a reaction to “the U.S. and its vassal forces’ reckless space militarization.” Regime officials told the official KCNA news service the satellite was needed to detect potential surprise missile attacks from South Korea or the United States.
According to the Japanese Coast Guard, Pyongyang notified the region of three danger zones where rocket debris could fall: two west of the Korean Peninsula and the other to the east of Luzon in the Philippines. Tuesday’s launch came at the very start of a 10-day “launch window” that Pyongyang had conveyed to Japan earlier as a safety warning, saying the rocket launch could come at any time through Dec. 1.
Though North Korea is banned from owning ballistic missile technologies — virtually identical to the staged rockets that place satellites into orbit — by U.N. Security Council resolutions, it routinely ignores these strictures.
Japan’s Security Council held an emergency meeting after the launch was detected, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida denouncing the North’s action as “a serious situation in which the safety of our people has been endangered,” Kyodo News reported.
“We have already sternly protested to North Korea and condemned the launch in the strongest possible terms,” Mr. Kishida said, adding that his government was coordinating with South Korea and the Biden administration in Washington on a response.
At the White House, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told reporters the Biden administration strongly condemned North Korea for the launch, saying it “raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond.”
The launch was North Korea’s third attempt this year, following failed launches in May and August.
In September, Mr. Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East. The site specializes exclusively in uncrewed space launches. It is clear from the botched attempts this year, official statements and even public propaganda imagery that Mr. Kim wants satellites.
While North Korea fields a massive force of artillery and tactical and strategic missiles, a gaping hole in its capabilities is a satellite network in space to monitor and help direct its arsenal. Spies in the sky have proven critical in the missile- and drone-heavy conflict in Ukraine, where targeting and guidance depend heavily on data-networked satellite links.
The North Korean notice of a pending new satellite launch ended weeks of speculation in Asian security circles, where it was widely believed that Pyongyang was on the verge of trying again. The regime originally set an October target date, but the month passed without action.
South Korea has been bracing for a new test, which President Yoon Suk-yeol warned recently would be a sign Pyongyang is trying to upgrade its already formidable arsenal of powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles.
“If North Korea succeeds in launching the military reconnaissance satellite, it would signify that North Korea’s ICBM capabilities have been taken to a higher level,” Mr. Yoon wrote in answer to questions from The Associated Press last week. “Therefore, we will have to come up with reinforced countermeasures.”
The U.S. naval group, led by nuclear aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, docked at a naval base in South Korea’s southeastern city of Busan. It is the third U.S. carrier to visit this year, as Washington upgrades its “extended deterrence” cover over the uneasy peninsula.
“The U.S. Carrier Strike Group 1’s visit demonstrates the South Korea-U.S. alliance’s solid combined defense posture and firm resolve to respond to advancing North Korean nuclear and missile threats,” South Korean Maritime Operations Director Rear Adm. Kim Ji-hoon told South Korean news outlets.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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