North Korean state media announced on Monday, June 19, 2023, that top government officials have pledged to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as they labeled their country’s first, and failed, launch last month as “the most serious” shortcoming this year.
In late May, a North Korean rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite crashed into the sea, posing a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s push to acquire a space-based surveillance system to better monitor the United States and South Korea.
The failed launch and North Korean efforts to modernize its weapons arsenal were discussed extensively at a three-day ruling party meeting that ended on Sunday, June 18, 2023, with Kim and other top officials in attendance.
The enlarged plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee came as the United States sent a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea in the allies’ latest show of force against the North, which has ramped up its testing of nuclear-capable missiles to a record pace in recent months.
The news agency did not clearly say who spoke, but said a report to the meeting “bitterly criticized the officials who irresponsibly conducted the preparations for (the) satellite launch.”
The report set forth tasks for officials and scientists to learn the lessons of the failed launch, find what caused the rocket’s crash and make a successful launch in a short span of time, the news media added.
It did not state exactly when North Korea might attempt a second launch. However, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers that it would take likely take “more than several weeks” for North Korea to determine what went wrong in the failed launch.
North Korea monitoring groups have not reported any purges or dismissals of scientists or others involved in the failed launch.
A spy satellite is among several high-tech military assets Kim has publicly vowed to acquire to cope with what he calls U.S.-led hostility. Other weapons systems Kim wants to possess are a multi-warhead missile, a nuclear submarine, a solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile and a hypersonic missile.
Since the start of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 missile tests, some of which were related to developing a spy satellite and other powerful weapons on Kim’s wish list.
North Korean Officials Examine Regional Security Situation
During the meeting, Politburo members also deliberated on the “extremely deteriorating security situation” in the region caused by the “reckless war moves” of North Korea’s rivals, the report said, apparently referring to the expanded U.S.-South Korea military drills.
The United States and South Korea have been expanding their military drills in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear arsenal and warn that any attempt to use nuclear weapons would result in the end of Kim’s government.
The news media disclosed that the Politburo members established unspecified “important tasks” for strengthening solidarity with countries that are “opposed to the U.S. brigandish strategy for world supremacy.”
In an effort to improve ties with Russia, North Korea has defended its military intervention in Ukraine. According to the North, Russia is defending itself from Western “hegemonic policy.”
The North has also tried to strengthen its connections with China, which is its biggest ally and source of economic support and is embroiled in a heated strategic conflict with the US over trade, technology, and regional dominance.
Russia and China, two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council with veto power, have repeatedly thwarted efforts by the United States and others to impose more severe penalties on North Korea as a result of its missile tests.
