"North Korea's Space Launch Vehicle, Crude but Tension Must Not Be Lost"

Technical Issues Such as Low Resolution and Lack of Video Radar
"The Reconnaissance Satellite Itself Seems to Be the Target Rather Than the ICBM"

Professor Park Won-gon of Ewha Womans University’s Department of North Korean Studies stated on the morning of the 31st regarding North Korea’s launch of a space launch vehicle believed to be its first military reconnaissance satellite, "Resolution is the most important factor for military reconnaissance satellites, and the satellites North Korea possesses have low utility," but emphasized that tensions should not be relaxed.

In an interview on BBS Radio’s 'Jeon Young-shin’s Morning Journal' that morning, Professor Park explained, "For a satellite to function as a military reconnaissance satellite, it must be able to observe the ground and identify objects smaller than about 1 meter on the surface," adding, "The United States, which has the best reconnaissance satellites in the world, can see objects about 5 to 10 cm in size, roughly the size of a 500-won coin on the ground."

He continued, "Our military is preparing to launch a satellite by the end of the year that can observe objects approximately 30 cm in size," and noted, "The satellite North Korea showed this time seems to be able to see objects about 3 meters in size. If that is the case, its utility is clearly limited, and there are many other technical issues as well."

On the 31st, when North Korea launched a space projectile southward, citizens in the waiting room of Seoul Station, Jung-gu, Seoul, were watching related news. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Professor Park added, "Military reconnaissance satellites require synthetic aperture radar that is not affected by weather conditions, but in the photos North Korea released, the external antenna of the synthetic aperture radar on the reconnaissance satellite’s top view is not visible."

However, Professor Park still stressed that tensions should not be eased. He said, "The important point is that looking at North Korea’s history of weapons development, although initially very crude, they eventually succeed. The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a representative example," emphasizing, "We must not let our guard down just because this time is a failure or a limitation."

Regarding speculation that this space launch vehicle launch might be an ICBM-related test, he responded, "I believe the goal is the reconnaissance satellite itself rather than ICBM technology development."

Professor Park stated, "It is true that ballistic missile technology was used for the satellite launch vehicle," but added, "If the goal was to improve ICBM performance, they would have simply launched an ICBM without calling it a satellite launch." Since North Korea has conducted several ICBM launches such as Hwasong-15, -17, and -18, if this launch had been an ICBM performance verification test, there would have been no need to announce it differently as a space launch vehicle launch.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.