The United Nations top political affairs official today (2 Jun) said, “it is the right of a sovereign state to launch a satellite and to benefit from space activities. However, Council resolutions expressly prohibit the DPRK from conducting any launches using ballistic missile technology.”
The 31 May launch was described by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a military reconnaissance satellite from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station.
Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council that the Vice-Chairman of the DPRK’s Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea had “justified the need for the DPRK to launch a military reconnaissance satellite as a response to ongoing military exercises in the region.”
DiCarlo recalled that “developing a military reconnaissance satellite was part of the DPRK’s five-year military development plan. That plan was unveiled during the 8th Party Congress in January 2021, well before the resumption of military exercises in the region.”
China’s Ambassador Geng Shuang told the Council that “the extended deterrence of the US and its allies as well as the planned visit of a strategic nuclear submarine to the peninsula after 42 years, has seriously reinforced the DPRK sense of insecurity.”
Shuang said it was “clear if the US continues on this path, this will inevitably provoke DPRK even further and raise even more tensions on the peninsula.”
The Republic of Korea’s (ROK) Ambassador, Joonkook Hwang, for his part said, “the Council has a restrained from taking substantial measures on the DPRK's failed launches in the past. However, the DPRK learns and advances its WMD program based on these failed launches. The council's inaction not only emboldened Pyongyang, but also misguides the international community into accepting that the Council will stand by idly and wait for the DPRK successful launch before it seriously responds.”
The DPRK rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast after losing thrust following the separation of its first and second stages. Official media said the country would conduct a second launch as soon as possible.
