Has A North Korean Spy Satellite Made It Into Orbit? It Could Be A Big Deal

 

North Korea announced on Wednesday that it has launched its first spy satellite into orbit. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the satellite, dubbed “Malligyong-1,” was launched late Tuesday on a new carrier rocket called “Chollima-1.”

Analysts believe that if the spacecraft is successful, it will considerably increase the regime’s military capabilities. The satellite can “assist them in military targeting, and it can assist them in damage assessment,” said to Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

North Korea has vowed further launches in response to its “enemies’ dangerous military maneuvers.” However, neither the South, Japan, or the United States, who are all experiencing rising military tensions with Pyongyang, could certify the satellite had entered orbit.

The South Korean government partially suspended a pact it had with the North that limited the South’s observation and surveillance activities along the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that separates the two countries on Wednesday morning.

Other researchers emphasized that the true capabilities of the North Korean spy satellite remain unknown. Some speculated that the dictatorship stood to lose more from Seoul’s restart of border information collecting than it stood to gain from Tuesday’s launch.