North Korea spy satellite launch poses entirely new threat

Pyongyang turns to reconnaissance, no longer a pretext for missile tests

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the country's first military reconnaissance satellite in Pyongyang on May 16. (KCNA via Reuters)

JUNNOSUKE KOBARA, Nikkei staff writer

May 31, 2023 05:08 JST

SEOUL -- If North Korea successfully sends its first military reconnaissance satellite into space as planned, it would mark a break from earlier purported satellite launches and introduce a new threat to regional security.

The satellite will track "in real time the dangerous military acts of the U.S. and its vassal forces," said Ri Pyong Chol, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission at the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.