North Korea to conduct a spy satellite launch in June

Ri Pyong Chol, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, which oversees nuclear and missile development and No. 2 in the military, announced that North Korea will launch its first military reconnaissance satellite in June. Earlier on Monday, the North notified Japan, the regional coordinator of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), that it would launch a satellite sometime between May 31 and June 11. One day later, the key military figure of the North provided details on the time and purpose of the spy satellite. A civilian satellite captured the images of the North relocating a portable modular building as part of final preparations.

Ri said that its satellite scheduled to be launched in June is “indispensable to tracking, monitoring, discriminating, controlling and coping with in advance in real time the dangerous military acts of the U.S. and its vassal forces openly revealing their reckless ambition for aggression,” in the statement carried by the KCNA, North Korean state media. Condemning joint military exercises of South Korea and the U.S., Ri said that U.S. air assets deployed to the Korean peninsula conduct operations and monitor not only the airspace above Pyongyang but also the northwestern region of the country, and, going further, the central and capital area of neighboring countries.

The South Korean military authority is keeping a watchful eye on possible satellite launch sites. The military considers the signs of satellite launch preparations at two distinct locations as “disinformation tactics” aimed at causing confusion within the South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies. “So far, there are no signs of an imminent satellite launch. Yet, we are keenly monitoring North Korea with South Korean and U.S. surveillance assets in case the North attempts to expedite the procedure for the launch.


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