North Korea says it will launch its first military spy satellite in June

North Korea said on May 30 it would launch its first military spy satellite in June and described space-based reconnaissance as crucial for monitoring the United States’ “reckless” military exercises with rival South Korea.

North Korea said on May 30 it would launch its first military spy satellite in June and described space-based reconnaissance as crucial for monitoring the United States' “reckless” military exercises with rival South Korea.

The statement came a day after North Korea notified Japan's coast guard that the launch, sometime between May 31 and June 11, might affect waters in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and east of the Philippines' Luzon Island. Japan's Defence Minister warned its forces to shoot down the satellite or debris, if any entered Japanese territory.

While North Korea's rivals have condemned the country's planned launch as a banned test of ballistic missile technology, it's less clear whether the satellite itself is advanced enough to support the North's stated goals of tracking and monitoring the U.S. and South Korean military activities in real time.

The pace of both North Korea's weapons testing and the U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises increased in past months in a cycle of tit-for-tat.

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In comments published by North Korean state media, senior military official Ri Pyong Chol criticised the combined U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which Pyongyang has long described as invasion rehearsals. He said North Korea considers space-based reconnaissance “indispensable” to monitor the military exercises.

Last week, the South Korean and the U.S. militaries conducted large-scale live-fire drills near the border with North Korea — the first of five rounds of exercises marking 70 years since the establishment of their alliance. Washington and Seoul describe their regular military exercises as defensive and have expanded their training since 2022 to cope with the North's evolving threats.