North Korea Expected to Launch Second Spy Satellite, Says South Korean Defense Minister

On April 8th, Shin Won Sik, the South Korean Defense Minister, revealed that the South Korean Military predicts North Korea will launch its second military reconnaissance satellite this month.

After observing the launch of our military’s second reconnaissance satellite at the Ministry of Defense building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Minister Shin stated, “We had been closely monitoring the North Korean reconnaissance satellite, which we expected could be launched in March. However, they seem to be making a few additional improvements.”

He further explained, “If the current technical improvements proceed without major issues, there is a high possibility of a mid-April launch. Although they may want to launch it on April 15th, a special day (Kim Il Sung’s birthday), it would be reasonable to consider extending it until the end of April if they need to make additional technical improvements.”

North Korea successfully launched its first military reconnaissance satellite, Malligyong-1, on November 21st last year. This launch came ten days before the South Korean Military’s first reconnaissance satellite, which was launched on December 2nd.

North Korea has since announced plans to launch a third reconnaissance satellite this year and made a similar statement through the Workers’ Party newspaper on the 1st of this month.

A Joint Chiefs of Staff official said, “North Korea is actively preparing for the launch by improving the insufficient aspects from the last launch. Considering the domestic situation, we expect the launch in mid-April since we launched our reconnaissance satellite today.”