North Korea Reportedly Warns IMO About Planned Satellite Launch

© Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)A DPRK railway-borne ballistic missile is launched in a January 14, 2022, test in western North Korea
A DPRK railway-borne ballistic missile is launched in a January 14, 2022, test in western North Korea - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 29.05.2023
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TOKYO (Sputnik) - North Korea has informed the International Maritime Organization (IMO) about its intention to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11 this year, the NHK broadcaster reported on Monday citing government sources.
One source said that Pyongyang was informing about a planned launch of a ballistic missile, under the guise of a satellite launch.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada has ordered Japan’s self-defense forces to shoot down a North Korean missile, launched under the guise of a satellite, if it poses a threat to the country's territory, the Japanese Defense Ministry said on Monday.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told journalists on Monday that a potential North Korean ballistic missile launch, disguised as a satellite launch, would be a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
A TV screen is seen reporting North Korea's missile launch with file footage during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 13, 2023. North Korea launched a ballistic missile that landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan on Thursday, prompting Japan to order residents on an island to take shelter as a precaution. The order has been lifted. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 14.04.2023
Photos: North Korea Reveals Thursday Launch Tested New Solid-Fuel Hwasong-18 ICBM
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a Monday press conference that Tokyo, together with the United States and South Korea, will insist on Pyongyang abandoning its launch plans.
NHK said that the alleged impact sites for falling fragments following the expected launch are outside Japan's exclusive economic zone (in the Yellow Sea southwest of North Korea and off the Philippines in the eastern Pacific).
Earlier in May, the state-run North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had inspected preparations for the launch of the country's first military reconnaissance satellite designed to deter the United States and South Korea.
In December at the Workers' Party plenum, Kim ordered the completion of the first reconnaissance satellite and the carrier rocket with a view to launching them in the near future. Pyongyang said the works were expected to be completed by April.
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