Japan lodges protest after N Korea launches spy satellite

Seoul [South Korea], November 22 (ANI): After North Korea claimed to have launched its first military spy satellite into space, Japan issued a missile warning for residents in Okinawa and lifted it after sometime, Kyodo News reported on Wednesday.

The office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said a ballistic missile had passed over the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa into the Pacific Ocean.

Japan, which had urged Pyongyang not to conduct a launch using ballistic missile technology, said it had not confirmed whether the payload had entered space.

The Japanese government said the projectile split into multiple parts, one of which flew over the southern prefecture of Okinawa. Japan lodged a protest via its embassy in Beijing over the launch, saying it violated U.N. resolutions banning the use of ballistic missile technology by Pyongyang, Kyodo reported.

North Korea had notified Japan of its plan to launch a satellite during a nine-day window commencing Wednesday, before it fired the projectile prior to the start of the period, the Japanese news agency reported. It cited Tokyo’s top government spokesman, Hirokazu Matsuno as saying that no damage was reported in Japan as a result of the launch.

The launch took place around 10:42 pm on Tuesday and the Malligyong-1 reconnaissance satellite was placed in orbit about 12 minutes later, Kyodo reported citing the official Korean Central News Agency.

In response to the launch, the Japanese Ministry of Defence/Self-Defence forces (MOD/SDF) has said that the country will “strengthen” its air and missile defence capabilities.

They further took fire at North Korea claiming that they have been, “repeatedly launching ballistic missiles in new ways at an unprecedentedly high frequency.”

“Even if the purpose is to launch a satellite, using ballistic missile technology is a violation of a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions,” the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kisida had previously said. “This is also a major national security concern,” The Japan Times reported.

The move has been condemned by countries across the Indo-pacific, with South Korea claiming the rocket launch received technological help from Russia after North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Un travelled to Russia on September 12 for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The rocket flew to the south over the sea between the Korean Peninsula and China, the South Korean military said in a brief statement. The United States, South Korea and Japan have all placed their militaries on alert to guard against such a launch, concerned that debris from the North’s rocket might fall on the Asian allies’ territories.

Attempts in May and August to launch military spy satellites failed, meaning this has been North Korea’s third attempt to launch over the far-flung southern Japanese islands.

Moscow’s help with Pyongyang’s troubled satellite programme was part of a package of incentives North Korea had been expected to receive from Russia in return for the North’s providing artillery shells and other badly needed munitions to help Russia’s war in Ukraine, the South Korean officials said.

North Korea’s state-run media has called the country’s spy satellite program an “indispensable” measure to counter US and allied space militarization.

North Korean state news agency KCNA said the satellite, named Malligyong-1, had “accurately” entered orbit and and leader Kim Jong Un had observed the launch.

The White House on Tuesday said it “strongly condemns” the launch and that it violated United Nations Security Council resolutions because it used ballistic missile technology, which the United Nations has barred Pyongyang from using, the Hill reported.