North Korea’s Satellite is Flying in Orbit Over South Korea and Japan

The image of North Korea’s first military reconnaissance satellite ‘Manrikyong 1’, launched on November 21 last year. /Korean Central News Agency, Yonhap

Japanese media reported that North Korea’s first reconnaissance satellite, launched last November, is flying in an orbit over South Korea and Japan after repeating altitude increases.

Yomiuri Shimbun delivered the news on the 11th that Manrikyong-1, North Korea’s first reconnaissance satellite, is flying over South Korea and Japan via an investigation of USSF’s(U.S. Space Force) public data from a Japanese expert.  The USSF registers artificial satellites launched from North Korea and other countries on Space-Track and publicly discloses the orbit data, daily movements, and space debris.

According to a Japanese space engineering expert who analyzed the movements of Manrikyong-1 through Space-Track from last November to early this month at the request of Yomiuri, the satellite’s average altitude was 312 miles but due to the slight air resistance in space, the altitude gradually decreased and rose again this year. Especially from late February, it raised its altitude, and the average altitude increased by about 2.5 miles, returning to almost the same orbit immediately after launch.

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This expert said, “The altitude has changed drastically in a short period,” and “It is reasonable to believe that they sent instructions from the ground to modify the orbit artificially.” The Japanese government is on alert, believing the North Korean satellite has control capabilities according to ground instructions. A Japanese government official said, “We believe the satellite is under North Korea’s control.”

In this analysis, Manrikyong-1 was found to be passing over areas such as Yamaguchi Prefecture in southern Honshu, Japan, where the Iwakuni U.S. military base is located, and Busan, where warships are anchored. However, it was estimated that Manrikyong-1 could observe the same point about once every five days. North Korea has not released any photos, but claims to have photographed the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier anchored in Busan and Andersen U.S. Air Force Base in Guam.

The Japanese government believes that there are still many unclear points including Manrikyong-1’s photography capabilities and there is a possibility that they are advancing technology with Russia’s support. Therefore, the Japanese government plans to rush a more accurate satellite analysis in conjunction with South Korea and the United States.