SEOUL – South Korea on Monday efficiently carried out a flight of a solid-fuel rocket carrying a satellite tv for pc over the ocean close to Jeju Island, the Defense Ministry mentioned, amid a rising area race with neighboring North Korea.
It was the third profitable check of the rocket’s expertise after two others in March and December 2022.
The launch on Monday concerned expertise developed on the state-run Agency for Defense Development, and a booster and satellite tv for pc produced by South Korea’s Hanwha Systems 272210.KS, the ministry mentioned in an announcement.
Hanwha Systems mentioned the satellite tv for pc, which can be used for civilian functions together with environmental monitoring, had efficiently despatched indicators to the bottom management middle.
The ministry hailed the launch as reaching a milestone simply after Pyongyang launched its first navy spy satellite tv for pc, which the United States and its allies have condemned for utilizing missile expertise contravening U.N. safety resolutions.
FILE – North Korean chief Kim Jong Un appears to be like on as a rocket carrying a spy satellite tv for pc is launched in a location given as North Gyeongsang Province, North Korea on this handout image obtained by Reuters, Nov. 21, 2023.
South Korea’s profitable launch will allow the nation to speed up its surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, the ministry mentioned.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried South Korea’s first spy satellite tv for pc into orbit on Friday from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base.
North Korea on Monday denounced what it known as Washington’s ‘double commonplace’ over the 2 Koreas’ satellite tv for pc launches and mentioned such ‘brigandish’ American requirements would by no means be tolerated.
‘North Korea will … proceed to pursue the necessary mission of creating aerospace surveillance capabilities to totally monitor and management navy strikes by the United States and different hostile forces,’ the North’s area company mentioned in an announcement carried by state media outlet KCNA.
Last month, North Korea launched its personal navy reconnaissance satellite tv for pc, with chief Kim Jong Un receiving pictures of the White House, Pentagon and U.S. plane carriers at a naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, in accordance with state media.
A functioning reconnaissance satellite tv for pc may enable North Korea to remotely monitor U.S., South Korean and Japanese troops. South Korea’s satellites would cut back its dependence on American intelligence techniques.
Pyongyang has not launched any imagery, leaving analysts and international governments to debate how succesful the brand new satellite tv for pc is and has defended satellite tv for pc launches as a part of its sovereign rights in response to criticism.