North Korea has told Japan it plans to launch a satellite in the coming days, possibly a second try to put a military spy satellite into orbit, Japanese media said on Tuesday.
In late May, North Korea tried to launch its first spy satellite, but the rocket carrying the satellite plunged into the sea soon after liftoff. North Korea vowed to make a second attempt after studying what went wrong with the first launch.
Kyodo News cited Japan’s coast guard as reporting it was notified that North Korea intends to launch a satellite between Thursday and Aug. 31. Kyodo said the plan is believed to be the North’s retry of a military reconnaissance satellite launch.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed related government agencies to analyze the plan as much as possible and coordinate with the United States and South Korea to urge Pyongyang not to carry out the launch, Kyodo said.
Japan’s coast guard said it was notified that North Korea would designate three maritime danger zones — two to the west of the Korean Peninsula and the third to the east of the Philippines island of Luzon. The three are outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
The North’s reported launch plan comes a day after the U.S. and South Korean militaries kicked off annual military exercises that North Korea has called a rehearsal for invasion.
The 11-day “Ulchi Freedom Shield” drills are computer-simulated command post training. During this year’s training period, the allies also plan more than 30 field training exercises.
This month’s drills come after the leaders of the U.S., South Korea and Japan met for their first stand-alone trilateral summit at Camp David on Friday and agreed on a set of steps to increase their defense cooperation to deal with North Korea’s increasing nuclear and military threats.
North Korea’s state media warned Tuesday that its rivals’ drills are deepening the danger of a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula.
It said the current, prevailing situation is compelling North Korea to take “offensive, overwhelming” steps, but didn’t elaborate.
