After North claims spy satellite launch, South Korea suspends part of military pact aimed at defusing tension with rival

Following the North Korean defiance of warnings from the US and its allies and its successful launch of a spy satellite, South Korea moved on Wednesday to suspend a part of the military accord it had signed with Pyongyang in 2018 . North Korea declared on Tuesday that it had successfully launched its first spy satellite into orbit, and it promised to do so again soon. Images released by North Korean official media purportedly showed the country’s leader Kim Jong Un witnessing the dramatic rocket launch from a base. Aiming to defuse tensions between the rivals, the Comprehensive Military Agreement was signed in 2018 during a meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former South Korean President Moon Jae-in. However, some have demanded that it be repealed, arguing that Pyongyang has blatantly broken the pact and that Seoul’s capacity to keep an eye on North Korea’s activities along the border has been undermined. The South Korea Defence Ministry announced that it would be resuming aerial surveillance close to the shared border and suspending a provision of the agreement as of 3 p.m. (0600 GMT). South Korea and Japan, which first reported the launch, could not immediately verify whether a satellite was in orbit. The Pentagon said the US military was still assessing whether the launch was a success. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in Britain for a state visit, approved the decision to suspend part of the inter-Korean agreement. Yoon earlier led a National Security Council meeting with ministers and the intelligence chief by video link. Meanwhile, North Korea’s KCNA state news agency said the Malligyong-1 satellite was launched on a Chollima-1 rocket from the Sohae satellite launch facility at 10:42 p.m. (1342 GMT) on Tuesday and entered orbit at 10:54 p.m. (1354 GMT). KCNA cited North Korea’s National Aerospace Technology Administration. North Korea had notified Japan it planned to launch a satellite between Wednesday and 1 December, after two failed attempts to launch what it called spy satellites this year. South Korea’s military said it believed the latest rocket carried a reconnaissance satellite. Aegis-system equipped destroyers from South Korea, Japan and the United States were in position to track the launch vehicle and share information. Japanese broadcaster FNN reported a test on sharing information on Tuesday’s launch failed because of technical problems. The three countries have boosted military cooperation to respond to North Korea’s missile threat. On Wednesday, 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 programs. US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson called the satellite launch “a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions,” and said it “raises tensions, and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond.” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for North Korea to fully comply with U.N. resolutions and urged Pyongyang to return to dialogue, a spokesperson said. Tuesday’s launch is the first since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Vladimir Putin at Russia’s modern space facility in September, where the Russian president promised to help Pyongyang build satellites. South Korean officials have said the latest launch most likely involved technical assistance from Moscow under a growing partnership that has seen North Korea send millions of artillery shells to Russia. Some missile experts, however, said that it was too soon for Russian technical assistance to have been fully incorporated into the satellite or the rocket and that Moscow would not have shared highly sensitive and proprietary technology. “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 Hong Min, an expert on the North’s weapons development at the Korea Institute for National Unification. Jeffrey Lewis, a missile expert at the James Martin Center 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,” Lewis said. Russia and North Korea have denied conducting arms deals, but are publicly promising deeper cooperation. KCNA said Kim Jong Un 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 U.S. company Space X. After the May launch attempt, South Korea retrieved the wreckage of the satellite from the sea and said an analysis showed it had limited use as a reconnaissance platform. With inputs from agencies