North Korea confirms it is launching spy satellite in June: Report

North Korea has confirmed that it will launch a spy satellite in June. The country has said that the reconnaissance satellite is needed to monitor military movements of the US and its allies in real time, state media reported on Tuesday (May 30). On Monday, Japan had said that Pyongyang informed it of the potential satellite launch. But Japan warned that North Korea may, in reality, be planning for a sanctions-defying ballistic missile test.

The North's state Korean Central News Agency cited Ri Pyong Chol, vice-chairman of the ruling party's central military commission, as saying the "military reconnaissance satellite No. 1" would be "launched in June".

The statement said that the satellite, along with "various reconnaissance means due to be newly tested, are indispensable to tracking, monitoring... and coping with in advance in real time the dangerous military acts of the US and its vassal forces."

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Ri cited 'reckless' acts by the US and South Korea and said that North Korea felt "the need to expand reconnaissance and information means and improve various defensive and offensive weapons" as it aimed to bolster its military preparedness.

He also accused the US of conducting "hostile air espionage activities on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity", according to KCNA.

North Korea informed Japan it would 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.

Japan PM wants intel

Japanese PM Fumio Kishida has 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," Kishida told reporters.

There are precedents to North Korea firing ballistic missiles after calling them satellite launches. In 2012 and 2016, the ballistic missiles fired from North Korea 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.

(With inputs from agencies)

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