North Korea to launch first military spy satellite in June
Adds South Korea comment, replaces Japan quote in paragraphs 9-12
By Soo-hyang Choi
SEOUL, May 30 (Reuters) -North Korea will launch its first military reconnaissance satellite in June for monitoring U.S. activities, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday, drawing criticism over its potential use of banned missile technology.
Ri Pyong Chol, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's rulingWorkers' Party, denounced ongoing jointmilitary exercises by the U.S.and South Korea as openly showing "reckless ambition for aggression."
U.S. and South Korean forces have carried out various training exercises in recent months, including thebiggest-ever live-fire exercises last week, after many drills were scaled back amid COVID-19 restrictions and diplomatic efforts with North Korea.
Ri said the drills required Pyongyang to have the "means capable of gathering information about the military acts of the enemy in real time."
"We will comprehensively consider the present and future threats and put into more thoroughgoing practice the activities for strengthening all-inclusive and practical war deterrents," Ri said in the statement carried by the KCNA news agency.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has said it has completed development of its first military spy satellite, and leader Kim Jong Un has approved final preparations for the launch.
The statement did not specify the exact launch date, but North Korea has notified Japan of a planned launch between May 31 and June 11, prompting Tokyo to put its ballistic missile defences on alert.
Japan has said it would shoot down any projectile that threatens its territory.
"Even if North Korea might call it a 'satellite', this is a violation of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit North Korea from all launches using the ballistic missile technology," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conferenceon Tuesday.
South Korea's foreign ministry also slammed the North's use of ballistic missile technology as a clear violation of the U.N. sanctions, saying Ri was making a "farfetched excuse" to bolster its weapons programmes.
"It is a nonsense to use our legitimate joint training and combined defence posture with the U.S., which were to respond to North Korea's advanced nuclear and missile threats, as an excuse for launching a reconnaissance satellite," ministry spokesman Lim Soo-suk told a briefing.
Lim urged Pyongyang to drop its plan, and vowed to sternly respond any launches.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Monday any North Korean launch using ballisticmissile technology, including for asatellite, would violate U.N. resolutions.
The launch would be the North's latest in a series of missile launches and weapons tests, including one of a new, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile last month.
Analysts say the satellite will improve North Korea's surveillance capability, enabling it to strike targets more accurately in the event of war.
Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi; Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo and Hyonhee Shin in Seoul; Editing by Leslie Adler, Grant McCool and Gerry Doyle
Últimas noticias
Descargo de responsabilidades: Cada una de las entidades de XM Group proporciona un servicio de solo ejecución y acceso a nuestra plataforma de trading online, permitiendo a una persona ver o usar el contenido disponible en o a través del sitio web, sin intención de cambiarlo ni ampliarlo. Dicho acceso y uso están sujetos en todo momento a: (i) Términos y Condiciones; (ii) Advertencias de riesgo; y (iii) Descargo completo de responsabilidades. Por lo tanto, dicho contenido se proporciona exclusivamente como información general. En particular, por favor tenga en cuenta que, los contenidos de nuestra plataforma de trading online no son ni solicitud ni una oferta para entrar a realizar transacciones en los mercados financieros. Operar en cualquier mercado financiero implica un nivel de riesgo significativo para su capital.
Todo el material publicado en nuestra plataforma de trading online tiene únicamente fines educativos/informativos y no contiene –y no debe considerarse que contenga– asesoramiento ni recomendaciones financieras, tributarias o de inversión, ni un registro de nuestros precios de trading, ni una oferta ni solicitud de transacción con instrumentos financieros ni promociones financieras no solicitadas.
Cualquier contenido de terceros, así como el contenido preparado por XM, como por ejemplo opiniones, noticias, investigaciones, análisis, precios, otras informaciones o enlaces a sitios de terceros que figuran en este sitio web se proporcionan “tal cual”, como comentarios generales del mercado y no constituyen un asesoramiento en materia de inversión. En la medida en que cualquier contenido se interprete como investigación de inversión, usted debe tener en cuenta y aceptar que dicho contenido no fue concebido ni elaborado de acuerdo con los requisitos legales diseñados para promover la independencia en materia de investigación de inversiones y, por tanto, se considera como una comunicación comercial en virtud de las leyes y regulaciones pertinentes. Por favor, asegúrese de haber leído y comprendido nuestro Aviso sobre investigación de inversión no independiente y advertencia de riesgo en relación con la información anterior, al que se puede acceder aquí.
