North Korea has announced its intention to launch a satellite in the coming days, a project immediately denounced as “illegal” by South Korea, which is currently carrying out major military maneuvers with the United States to deal with nuclear threats from Pyongyang. .
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Tuesday that his government had been informed of the impending launch by North Korea.
Meanwhile, the Japan Coast Guard issued an alert for a “satellite rocket launch” between August 24 and August 31 for three danger areas, in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and waters east of China. Luzon Island in the Philippines.
For its part, the South Korean Foreign Ministry warned that Seoul’s “response” “to this illegal provocation from the North” would be “firm”, within the framework of “close trilateral cooperation Korea / United States / Japan “.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made the development of a military spy satellite a priority to “address the dangerous military actions of the United States and its vassals”. But a first attempt to launch, at the end of May, ended in failure.
Washington and Seoul suspect for their part Pyongyang of developing a new intercontinental ballistic missile, which includes technologies similar to that of a satellite launcher.
“The so-called satellite launch by North Korea is a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions”, which prohibit it from developing ballistic missiles, reacted Tuesday in a press release the South Korean ministry of security. Unification, in charge of North Korean affairs.
“No matter what excuses North Korea tries to make, it cannot justify this illegal act,” he added.
During a press conference, the Japanese Prime Minister for his part called on Pyongyang “to cancel this launch” and ordered his government to take “all possible measures to prepare for any unforeseen eventuality”.
South Korean intelligence told parliament last week that North Korea may try again to launch a satellite before the regime’s 75th founding anniversary on September 9.
On May 31, a rocket presented by Pyongyang as being the launcher of a military observation satellite crashed into the Yellow Sea shortly after takeoff, not without having triggered air alerts in South Korea and in the Japanese archipelago. from Okinawa.
The South Korean military, after a complex 36-day operation at sea, eventually recovered parts of the rocket and satellite. After examination by South Korean and American experts, the South Korean Ministry of Defense had estimated that the satellite had “no military utility”.
According to Choi Gi-il, professor of national security at Sangjil University, the Pyongyang regime appears confident that it has “improved and completed the technical aspects of the launch over the past three months”.
Pyongyang’s new launch announcement coincides with Ulchi Freedom Shield, the name given to the large-scale U.S.-South Korean maneuvers that kicked off Monday and are due to run until August 31.
According to the three allies, these exercises aim to respond to the growing threats from North Korea, which has nuclear weapons.
North Korea’s official news agency (KCNA) on Tuesday condemned the military drills as “aggressive”. If the drills involve “nuclear provocation”, the possibility “of thermonuclear war on the Korean Peninsula will become more realistic”, she warned.
Pyongyang, which believes that these joint exercises are in fact preparing for an invasion of the North or the overthrow of its regime, has repeatedly warned that “crushing” actions will respond to them.
Computer attacks attributed to North Korean hackers have already targeted South Korean companies working for the two armies in recent days.
Last week, US President Joe Biden received his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida at Camp David. It was the first time the leaders of the three countries met for a stand-alone summit.
The three countries announced a program of joint military exercises over several years and the establishment of an emergency communication channel at the highest level.
22/08/2023 11:45:15 – Seoul (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
