North Korea’s regime claims that the launch was a response to recent live-fire drills being conducted by South Korea and America, but its satellite programme has a relatively long history
of May 31st the citizens of Seoul, South Korea’s capital, had a rude awakening. Just after half past six the sound of sirens filled the air. Phones buzzed on nightstands, urging residents to seek shelter. Confusion ensued: Seoulites did not know what the alerts meant or how they were meant to act. The city government had triggered them in response to North Korea’s attempt to launch a satellite.
North Korea’s regime claims that the launch was a response to huge live-fire drills being conducted bybetween May 25th and June 15th, but its satellite programme has a relatively long history. After a string of failures it carried out its first successful launch in 2012 and a second just over three years later. But experts doubt whether either satellite is currently sending data back to Earth.
In the past North Korea claimed that its space programme is first and foremost peaceful, designed to foster economic development and improve the lives of its people. Satellites serve all sorts of purposes, from supporting global-positioning systems to monitoring crops. But the regime has said that the next satellite will be for military purposes.
Getting satellites in orbit could also help with another of the regime’s military ambitions. Satellites could speed up the development of its missile programme. Valuable information can be gleaned by observing missiles as they splash down. Without satellites, this would need to be done by having ships nearby, which is not usually feasible for North Korea given the trajectories of its missile tests . And, importantly, weapons development and satellite-equipment testing are not mutually exclusive.
Soon after it emerged that the launch on May 31st had failed, North Korea announced that it would try again very soon. America’s denunciation of the launch as a “brazen violation” of UN resolutions is unlikely to slow the regime. All the more reason for South Korea to sort out its warning systems quickly. There’s no point in crying wolf if no one believes you.This is an updated version of an earlier article on North Korea’s missile and satellite launch programme.
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