North Korea launched a rocket Wednesday, Japan and South Korea announced, following its announcement of a controversial plan to send its first military spy satellite into orbit.
The rocket, according to South Korea’s Joints Chiefs of Staff, was launched at about 6:30 a.m. from North Korea’s northwestern Tongchang-ri area, where the country’s main space launch center is located. The South Korean military was trying to confirm whether the launch was successful, The Associated Press reported.
North Korea pressed forward Tuesday to launch its first military spy satellite and notified the International Maritime Organization that the launch could take place as soon as Wednesday.
Following the launch, the South Korean capital of Seoul issued alerts over public speakers and cellphone text messages telling residents to prepare for evacuation. But there were no reports of damages or major disruption and Seoul later lifted the alert.
The Japanese government activated a missile warning system for its Okinawa prefecture in southwestern Japan, believed to be in the path of the rocket. Authorities later lifted the calls for evacuation.
The government of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un notified the agency via email that the tentative launch window extends through June 11. A day earlier, the reclusive nation apprised neighboring Japan of the launch plan, prompting an order from Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada to shoot down any North Korean satellite or debris that enters Japanese territory.
Any satellite launch would violate United Nations resolutions banning long-range missile tests by Pyongyang.
“The North Korea crisis, which has been in a state of hibernation for years, seems to be getting ready to explode again upon the world stage,” Harry Kazianis, CEO of Rogue States Project and a senior editor at the national focused website 19FortyFive, told USA TODAY.
Developments:
∙ Pyongyang notified the IMO, which is responsible for maritime safety, to provide coordinates of areas where debris could fall.
∙ North Korea claims the satellite is crucial to monitor joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises that have increased in recent months. North Korea describes the exercises as “reckless” invasion rehearsals.
∙ Washington and Seoul, saying the exercises are defensive, have expanded joint training since 2022 to cope with North Korea’s evolving threats.
US State Department urges Pyongyang to reconsider
The U.S. State Department warned that the technology used to launch the satellite would be “identical to, and interchangeable with” ballistic missile technology. The U.N. Security Council has banned North Korea from nuclear weapons and ballistic missile testing since 2006.
“We urge the DPRK (North Korea) to refrain from further unlawful activity and call on Pyongyang to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy,” the statement reads.
Could North Korea fire a test missile into the ocean off California?
Kazianis said that it’s clear Japan is committed to shooting down any missile or satellite that crosses its national boundaries and that Washington and Seoul probably would support Japan. It’s important to be “clear-eyed” about how North Korea might respond, he said. Kazianis believes Pyongyang could then test a nuclear weapon − and send an intercontinental ballistic missile across the Pacific Ocean, possibly within a few hundred miles of the California coast.
North Korea seems determined to prove its military is powerful, he said, adding that Kim will never give up his nation’s nuclear weapons.
“Pyongyang, thanks to decades of investments that total billions of dollars, is no military paper tiger but can raise tensions far beyond anything we saw” in previous years, Kazianis said. “And that could put us on the brink of a nuclear showdown.”
Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
