North Korea To Make Another Satellite Launch This Week After Unsuccessful Attempt in May Despite Japan, South Korea’s Disapproval

North Korea will make another attempt to launch a satellite this week, three months after it failed. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will push with its plans amid the military tension between its neighboring countries.

North Korea To Make Satellite Launch Attempt

After an unsuccessful military satellite launch in May, the North Korean leadership has declared it will make another attempt this week. North Korean officials warned the Japanese Coast Guard that the launch would occur between Aug. 24 and Aug. 31 and fly between the Yellow and East China Seas.

North Korea attempted to launch a satellite on May 31, 2023; this launch is the follow-up to that effort. The satellite-carrying Chollima-1 rocket from North Korea crashed into the water west of the Korean Peninsula after apparently experiencing a motor malfunction during stage separation, failing that launch.

It is anticipated that the impending launch will take place from North Korea's Sohae Satellite Launch Grounds, which are located in the country's northwest, close to its border with China.

The launch dates were revealed to coincide with annual U.S.-South Korean military drills that started this week and are intended to "strengthen the security and stability on the Korean peninsula and across Northeast Asia," according to a statement from the U.S. Navy. Analysts feel this is a show of force.

There are speculations that North Korea plans to put a spy satellite into orbit. Kim Jong Un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, previously stated that he wanted to put a spy satellite to keep an eye on the U.S. forces.

Japan, South Korea Against North Korea's Satellite Launch

Seoul still believes that such a satellite would be, at best, crude and might still aid Pyongyang in honing its targeting lists. There are allegations that Pyongyang is developing new missiles intended to deliver nuclear attacks in South Korea and Japan, home to most American military personnel in the region.

South Korea recovered the spy satellite from the sea after Pyongyang's unsuccessful launch on May 31, providing it a unique direct view of Pyongyang's capabilities even as it concluded that the technology had no military worth.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called North Korea's potential satellite launch "extremely regrettable." Meanwhile, South Korean officials deemed it a "clear illegal act" that reportedly violated U.N. sanctions against North Korea testing ballistic missile technologies.

South Korea's Unification Ministry insisted that the act "cannot be justified no matter what excuse North Korea makes."

The payload of North Korea's planned launch has remained unknown.

President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, and U.S. On Aug. 18, President Joe Biden also met to discuss the trilateral security accord intended to protect against North Korea's growing aggression.

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