The Government of Japan has warned that North Korea has launched a satellite that has flown into the Pacific Ocean. Shortly before 4:00 a.m. local time (9:00 p.m. in Spain) the Government has issued an emergency alert through the J-alert radio broadcasting system, in which it asked the inhabitants of the Okinawa prefecture, located in the extreme south of the country, to take refuge in their homes. The alert has been lifted minutes later.
has done it too South Koreawho has carried out for the first time in six years a nationwide civil evacuation drill in the face of possible North Korean air strikes amid rising tensions with Pyongyang, which has recently tested new cruise missiles.
North Korea Warning
Two days ago, Pyongyang, the most populous city in North Korea, warned that would launch a satellite between August 24 and 31, his second such attempt this year. In May, Pyongyang launched a satellite that fell into the Yellow Sea and that activated evacuation alerts for a few minutes in the South Korean capital, Seoul, and the prefecture of Okinawa, the northernmost island of the Japanese archipelago.
North Korea later claimed that its second attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit had failed. Even so, he has promised to try again in October, according to local media.
The country, endowed with nuclear weapons, has been trying to put into orbit what would be its first military spy satellitestating that, in time, he plans a satellite fleet to monitor US and South Korean troop movements.
Protest against North Korea
In a televised press conference, the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, stated that the repeated missile launches constituted a threat to regional security. “We will strongly protest North Korea and condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” she said.
Pyongyang for its part has specified that need a military reconnaissance satellite to strengthen surveillance of US military activities. Thus, his first attempt with the Chollima-1 satellite May 31 went wrong and the booster rocket and payload plunged into the sea. state media they blamed the mishap on a new engine system and unstable and unreliable fuel.
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Seoul, Tokyo and Washington condemned the May release as a provocation and a violation of UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting the North’s use of ballistic missile technology. Now, he has tried again, without success, and plans to do it again.
North Korea has made multiple attempts to launch “earth observation” satellites, of which two appear to have been successfully put into orbit, one of them in 2016. International observers have said that the 2016 satellite seemed to be under controlbut the debate persisted as to whether he had sent any transmissions.