North Korea informs Japan of upcoming ‘satellite launch’

TOKYO: North Korea has informed Japan that it is preparing to launch a satellite as early as this week, Tokyo announced on Monday but warned it may actually be a sanctions-defying ballistic missile test. North Korea informed Japan that it will launch a rocket between May 31 and June 11, identifying waters near the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and to the east of Luzon Island in the Philippines as warning areas, a Japanese coast guard spokesman told AFP. Such zones are usually designated for falling debris or rocket stages.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told officials to gather intelligence “on North Korea´s notification about the launch of a ballistic missile that it describes as a satellite”, his office said in a tweet.

“Even if it´s described as a satellite, a launch using ballistic missile technology would be a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions” and would threaten people´s safety, Kishida told reporters. In 2012 and 2016, Pyongyang tested ballistic missiles that it called satellite launches. Both flew over Japan´s southern Okinawa region.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this month inspected the country´s first military spy satellite as it was prepared for launch, and gave the green light for its “future action plan”. In 2021, Kim had identified the development of such satellites as a key defence project for the North Korean military.