SEOUL - South Korea on Nov 22 moved to suspend part of a military agreement it signed with Pyongyang in 2018, after the isolated North defied warnings from the United States and its allies and launched a spy satellite, calling it a success.

The suspension of a clause in the agreement will see South Korea stepping up military surveillance along the border.

North Korea said it placed its first spy satellite in orbit on Nov 21 and vowed to launch more in the near future.

Photographs published by North Korean state media showed what appeared to be leader Kim Jong Un watching the fiery launch of a rocket from a base.

He was later briefed on the satellite’s initial operations at the control centre of the space agency in Pyongyang and viewed images taken above Guam of key US military installations, including Andersen Air Force Base, North Korea’s KCNA state news agency said.

Mr Kim stressed the need to launch more reconnaissance satellites on different orbits to give his armed forces “abundant valuable real-time information about the enemy and further promote their responsive posture”, it said.

The satellite would begin its formal reconnaissance mission on Dec 1, after adjustments, KCNA said.

South Korea and Japan, which first reported the launch, could not immediately verify whether a satellite was in orbit. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the US military was still assessing whether the launch was a success.

President Yoon Suk-yeol, in Britain for a state visit, approved the decision to suspend part of the inter-Korean agreement. 

He earlier led a meeting of the National Security Council with some ministers and the national intelligence chief by video link.

The pact, known as the Comprehensive Military Agreement and aimed at de-escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula, was signed at a 2018 summit between former South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s Mr Kim.

The two sides agreed to impose buffer zones where live-fire drills will be suspended, as well as no-fly zones, remove some guard posts from the demilitarised zone separating the countries, and maintain hotlines, among other measures.

But the agreement has come under growing scrutiny and faced calls to be scrapped or suspended as critics say it limits Seoul’s ability to monitor North Korea’s actions around the border.

Show of force

On Nov 22, the US nuclear-powered submarine USS Santa Fe docked at a South Korean port, a day after the Carl Vinson aircraft carrier arrived in a show of force against North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes.

Visiting the carrier, South Korea’s Defence Minister Shin Won-sik said joint maritime drills with the United States and Japan were planned to show their “strong will” to respond to any provocation by the North, his office said.

KCNA said the Malligyong-1 satellite was launched on a Chollima-1 rocket from the Sohae satellite launch facility at 10.42pm (9.42pm, Singapore time) and entered orbit at 10.54pm. KCNA cited North Korea’s National Aerospace Technology Administration.

North Korea had notified Japan it planned to launch a satellite between Nov 22 and Dec 1, after two failed attempts to launch what it called spy satellites in 2023.

US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson called the launch “a brazen violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions”, and said it “raises tensions, and risks destabilising the security situation in the region and beyond”.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for North Korea to fully comply with UN resolutions and urged Pyongyang to return to dialogue, a spokesperson said.

The foreign ministry of China, Pyongyang’s closest ally, called on all parties to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Russia connection

The Nov 21 launch is the first since Mr Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin at Russia’s modern space facility in September for a summit, at which Mr Putin promised to help Pyongyang build satellites.

South Korean officials have said the latest launch attempt most likely incorporated technical assistance from Moscow as part of a growing partnership that has seen North Korea send millions of artillery shells to Russia.

Some missile experts, however, said it may be too soon for Russian technical assistance to have been fully incorporated in the satellite or the rocket.

“We have to see how properly this is being operated,” said Mr Lee Choon-geun, a rocket expert at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.

“This consultation may not have been an in-depth involvement in the design, but likely targeted specific challenging aspects within North Korea’s planned design,” said Dr Hong Min, an expert on the North’s weapons development at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

Missile expert Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies said it is much too early for the North to have integrated Russia’s assistance.

“Maybe the Russians gave them some advice, but it’s normal for countries to launch and learn,” he said.

Russia and North Korea have denied conducting arms deals, but are publicly promising deeper cooperation.

KCNA said Mr Kim personally observed the launch, which came just over a week before South Korea plans to send its first spy satellite into space on a rocket operated by the US company SpaceX.

After a failed launch attempt by North Korea in May, Seoul retrieved the wreckage of the satellite from the sea and said an analysis showed it had limited use as a reconnaissance platform.

South Korea’s military said it believed the latest rocket carried a reconnaissance satellite and was launched towards the south.

Over its emergency broadcasting system, the Japanese government told residents in Okinawa to take cover inside buildings or underground. It later said the rocket appeared to have flown over and past Okinawa towards the Pacific Ocean, and it lifted its emergency warning. REUTERS