BREAKING: South Korea Launches Second Spy Satellite Into Space

BREAKING: South Korea Launches Second Spy Satellite Into Space

South Korea’s defense ministry announced on Monday that the country’s second domestically produced spy satellite had been launched into orbit successfully.

The satellite was sent into space from an American space center using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

In a previous development, in December, Seoul confirmed the successful launch of its first military spy satellite, also aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Elon Musk’s company.

The defense ministry stated, “Our military’s second reconnaissance satellite successfully separated from the launch vehicle around 09:02 (1202 GMT) and entered the target orbit.”

“We intend to verify the satellite’s operational status by communicating with ground stations overseas,” the ministry added.

These recent occurrences signify an advancement in the space competition in the Korean peninsula following North Korea’s launch of its first military satellite in November last year.

South Korea’s initial satellite has already transmitted high-resolution images of central Pyongyang to authorities in Seoul and is expected to commence full operations as early as June, according to Seoul’s Yonhap news agency.

Seoul’s objective is to have a total of five military spy satellites operational by 2025 to improve surveillance of North Korea.

Once all five satellites are deployed and operational, the South Korean military will have the capability to monitor key facilities in North Korea with imagery updates approximately every two hours, as reported by Seoul’s government-run broadcaster KTV.

North Korea has claimed that its spy satellite has transmitted images of a US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and various strategic locations across South Korea.

North Korea’s successful launch of the “Malligyong-1” satellite is the third attempt by Pyongyang to put such a satellite into orbit.

This follows previous failures in May and August of the previous year.

This year, Pyongyang has heightened tensions by declaring South Korea its “principal enemy,” disbanding agencies dedicated to reunification efforts, and issuing threats of military action over perceived territorial infringements, regardless of how minor they may be.