spy satellite Archives - Defence Monitor

31 May

South Korea, Netherlands discuss North Korea’s spy satellite launch in security talks

Seoul, May 31 (IANS) South Korea and the Netherlands held working-level diplomatic talks on Friday on disarmament and nonproliferation issues, including North Korea's latest launch of a military spy satellite, Seoul's foreign ministry said. Youn Jong-kwon, director general for international security at Seoul's foreign ministry, discussed the issues with Joost Flamand, director for security policy at the Netherlands' foreign ministry, reports Yonhap news agency. They discussed the North's nuclear and missile programmes, including Pyongyang's botched attempt to launch a military spy satellite earlier this week and the North Korean sanctions regime in the UN Security Council. The two sides also…

08 Apr

S. Korea launches 2nd spy satellite into orbit with SpaceX Falcon 9

Seoul, April 8, South Korea launched its second indigenous spy satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in the US state of Florida on Monday (Seoul time), according to the country's defence ministry. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:17 a.m. (7:17 p.m. local time) from the John F. Kennedy Space Center and sent the reconnaissance satellite into orbit approximately 45 minutes after the launch, the ministry was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency. "We will check whether the satellite normally operates through communication with overseas ground stations," the ministry said. It is the second…

02 Dec

S.Korea successfully launches 1st spy satellite into orbit

Seoul, Dec 2, South Korea successfully launched its first indigenous military spy satellite from a US military base in California, in a culmination of Seoul's quest for space-based intelligence capabilities amid growing North Korean threats, the Defence Ministry said on Saturday. The launch of the satellite atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Friday came after Pyongyang claimed success in its own spy satellite launch last week -- a move that underscored a growing inter-Korean security rivalry, reports Yonhap News Agency. The Ministry said the satellite was placed in orbit approximately four minutes after launch…

28 Nov

N.Korea says spy satellite took photos of WH, Pentagon, key US naval base

Seoul, Nov 28, North Korea on Tuesday said the country's military spy satellite has taken photos of the White House and Pentagon in the US as well as nuclear aircraft carriers docked at a key American naval base. Leader Kim Jong-un viewed the photos as he received an operations report from the Pyongyang General Control Center of the National Aerospace Technology Administration on Monday morning and at dawn Tuesday, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). He observed satellite photos of the White House and the Pentagon taken at 11.36 p.m. on Monday night, Yonhap News Agency…

05 Jul

S.Korea retrieves N.Korean spy satellite wreckage

Seoul, July 5, South Korea has retrieved a North Korean spy satellite wreckage and concluded it has "no military utility", ending a 36-day operation to salvage the sunken debris from the failed space rocket launch in late May, Seoul's military said on Wednesday. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the military raised key parts of the rocket and the satellite through the search and salvage operation in the Yellow Sea from May 31 through Wednesday, and it worked in tandem with the US to examine and analyse them, reports Yonhap News Agency. "As a result of the exhaustive…

01 Jun

N.Korea will correctly place spy satellite into orbit soon: Kim Jong-un’s sister

Seoul, June 1 (IANS) The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed that Pyongyang will "correctly" place a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit soon, state media reported on Thursday, a day after Pyongyang's attempt to launch a spy satellite failed. Kim Yo Jong made the remarks as she slammed the US for its denouncement of North Korea's botched launch on Wednesday of what it claimed to be a "space launch vehicle," according to a statement carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "If North Korea's satellite launch should be particularly censured, the US and all…