Japan called for North Korea to refrain from a planned rocket launch it described as a “serious provocation” following reports Pyongyang intends to put a satellite in orbit as early as this Wednesday.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he instructed his cabinet Monday to gather and analyze information on North Korea’s planned move after reports that Pyongyang would launch a ballistic missile described as a satellite.
The prime minister said Japan will cooperate with relevant nations on demanding North Korea doesn’t go ahead with the launch, a message reiterated by the government’s chief spokesman.
“For North Korea to go ahead with a ballistic missile launch that it is calling a ‘satellite’ is a serious provocation against our country’s national security,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters. “Any launch using ballistic missile technology breaches related UN Security Council resolutions.”
Japan’s Coast Guard separately warned that a satellite rocket could be launched between May 31 and June 11. Japan’s defense minister issued an order to destroy any part of the projectile that might fall on Japanese territory.
North Korea last launched a space rocket in February 2016, when the country claimed to have put an earth-observation satellite into orbit as part of what it said was a lawful space program. The satellite is thought to have never reached orbit.
Earlier this month North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a facility assembling North Korea’s first spy satellite, indicating the state could soon conduct its first space rocket launch in about seven years.
Kim was accompanied by his preteen daughter in the field guidance visit to inspect the “military reconnaissance satellite No. 1 which is ready for loading,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported. The device is designed to monitor US forces and their allies in Asia.
North Korea is barred by United Nations Security Council resolutions from conducting ballistic missile tests, but Pyongyang has long claimed it’s entitled to a civilian space program for satellite launches. The US and its partners have warned that technology derived from North Korea’s space program could be used to advance its ballistic missiles.
South Korea has been also beefing up its efforts for homegrown space technology, successfully launching its first rocket and satellite made from parts sourced in the nation. The South’s Nuri rocket lifted off from the country’s Naro Space Center on Thursday and its eight satellites separated into orbit.
--With assistance from Jon Herskovitz, Isabel Reynolds and Gareth Allan.
(Updates with comments from Chief Cabinet Secretary in fourth paragraph.)
