North Korea announced Monday that it fired a test satellite in an important final-stage test for the development of its first spy satellite, a key military capability coveted by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, along with other high-tech weapons systems.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency also released low-resolution, black-and-white photos showing a space view of the South Korean capital and Incheon, a city just west of Seoul, in an apparent attempt to show the North is pushing to acquire a surveillance tool to monitor its rival.
According to KCNA, the rocket carrying the test satellite was launched on Sunday to evaluate the satellite’s photography and data transmission systems.
The test results were described as“an important success which has gone through the final gateway process of the launch of reconnaissance satellite.” by the country’s National Aerospace Development Administration. According to KCNA, it stated that it would complete preparations for its first military reconnaissance satellite by April of next year.
“From the images released, the resolution does not appear to be so impressive for military reconnaissance,” Soo Kim, a security analyst at the California-based RAND Corporation, said. “I’d note, however, that this is probably an ongoing development, so we may see more improvements to North Korea’s military reconnaissance capabilities over time.”
Authorities in South Korea, Japan, and the United States said Sunday that they had detected a pair of North Korean ballistic missile launches from the northwestern Tongchang-ri area, where the North’s satellite launch pad is located. They said the two missiles flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles) at a maximum altitude of 550 kilometers (340 miles) before landing in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
According to Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, North Korea likely fired two missiles with different types of cameras — one for black-and-white imagery and video and the other for color — during Sunday’s test.
According to Lee, an analysis of a photo of the launch revealed that the missiles were most likely a new type of liquid-fueled weapon capable of both military use and orbiting a satellite.
South Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson Geon Ha Gyu told reporters Monday that the South Korean and US assessments that North Korea fired the two medium-range ballistic missiles remain unchanged. He said South Korean and US intelligence officials were looking into additional details about the launches but declined to elaborate.
Kim announced a wish list of sophisticated military assets, including spy satellites, multi-warhead missiles, solid-fueled long-range missiles, underwater-launched nuclear missiles, and nuclear-powered submarines, during a ruling party meeting early last year. Kim has called for such modern weapons systems and an expanded nuclear arsenal to pressure the United States to abandon its hostile polices on North Korea, an apparent reference to U.S.-led sanctions and the U.S.-South Korean military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
North Korea has since taken steps to develop such weapons systems. North Korea claimed to have conducted tests in February and March to evaluate a camera and data transmission systems for use on a spy satellite. In November, it test-launched its developmental, longest-range Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, a weapon believed to be designed to carry multiple warheads. North Korea announced last week that it had completed a “high-thrust solid-fuel motor” test for a new strategic weapon, an apparent reference to a solid-fueled ICBM.
According to Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, North Korea will most likely launch a reconnaissance satellite into orbit around April 15, the birthday of Kim’s late grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung. This is one of North Korea’s most important state anniversaries.
According to North Korea’s state media, one of the cameras tested on Sunday has a 20-meter (65-foot) resolution, which Lee, the expert, says can only recognize relatively large targets such as warships sailing on the ocean and South Korean military installations.
Lee believes North Korea may be able to obtain a more advanced camera in secret, allowing it to monitor tanks and the deployment of US strategic assets to South Korea. He claimed that such a camera would significantly improve North Korea’s surveillance capabilities.
