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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the Pyongyang General Control Center of the Korean National Aerospace Technology Administration on Nov. 22, the day after the launch of a military reconnaissance satellite. (KCNA/Yonhap)

North Korea announced Wednesday that it had succeeded in placing into orbit its first military reconnaissance satellite, the Malligyong-1, the day prior.

This third attempt to launch the spy satellite came 89 days after a failed second launch attempt on Aug. 24.

The successful military reconnaissance satellite launch also came seven years after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s declaration at the 7th Workers’ Party of Korea Congress in May 2016 that he intended to build North Korea into a “space power.” Analysts predicted Pyongyang would make substantial use of its accomplishment for purposes of internal unity and external propaganda.

On Wednesday, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported, “The National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea successfully launched the new-type carrier rocket ‘Chollima-1’ loaded with the reconnaissance satellite ‘Malligyong-1’ at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province, at 22:42:28 on November 21.”

“The carrier rocket ‘Chollima-1’ flew normally along the preset flight track and accurately put the reconnaissance satellite ‘Malligyong-1’ on its orbit at 22:54:13, 705s after the launch,” the report continued.

With its report in the Rodong Sinmun coming just around three hours after the satellite’s launch, North Korea was already boasting of its success.

“The NATA is to present to the 9th Plenary Meeting of the 8th WPK Central Committee a plan for continuing to secure the capability to reconnoiter the South Korean region and the region of operational interest of the DPRK armed forces by additionally launching several reconnaissance satellites in a short span of time,” the Rodong Sinmun also said.

That suggests that North Korea will be taking steps to launch more military reconnaissance satellites in 2024, following the Central Committee’s meeting, which is scheduled to take place at the end of the year.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had demonstrated a keen interest in putting a spy satellite into orbit and had urged scientists to pull off a successful launch. He was on hand to observe the third launch and then visited NATA’s control center in Pyongyang on Wednesday morning to review images taken by the satellite.

The KCNA reported that Kim viewed “aerospace photos of Anderson Air Force Base, Apra Harbor and other major military bases of the US forces taken in the sky above Guam in the Pacific, which were received at 9:21 a.m. on Nov. 22.”

Kim was briefed by NATA during his visit to the control center that Malligyong-1 would formally start its reconnaissance mission on Dec. 1 after finishing a “fine-tuning process” lasting 7-10 days.

“It remains uncertain whether decent imagery of targeted [that is, designated] regions and locations is being received and used as information,” noted an official from South Korea’s presidential office.

North Korea’s main technological objective behind the launch was strengthening its reconnaissance capabilities in what it regards as areas of strategic interest, including the Korean Peninsula, Guam and the American homeland. Needless to say, a spy satellite must be operational if it’s to serve that purpose.

For this reason, the fact that North Korea immediately announced to the world that Kim viewed photos taken in the sky above Guam is being interpreted as intended to show audiences both at home and abroad that not only the launch had succeeded, but that the satellite was functioning successfully as well.

Experts agree that the success of this spy satellite launch is likely to be used for solidifying internal unity ahead of the year-end WPK plenary meeting.

Some also believe that North Korea was cognizant of South Korea’s own plans to launch a reconnaissance satellite when carrying out Tuesday’s launch. South Korea plans to place its first independent reconnaissance satellite in orbit on Nov. 30 aboard a Space-X Falcon 9 that will take off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

“If we don’t succeed in launching our satellite with the US on Nov. 30, it could deal a significant blow to South Korea-US deterrence of North Korea,” predicted Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

By Shin Hyeong-cheol, staff reporter

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