South Korea announced an increase in its surveillance of North Korea following the latter’s claim of launching a military spy satellite, a move violating UN bans and possibly escalating Inter-Korean tensions.

Stepping up defense: Upon North Korea’s unverified claim of performing its third satellite launch attempt this year, South Korea decided to partially suspend a 2018 inter-Korean agreement, resuming frontline aerial surveillance of its northern neighbor.
* The decision, likely to cause outrage in North Korea, was approved in a South Korean Cabinet Council meeting, stating it’s in response to North Korea’s “grave provocation that threatens our national security.”
* South Korea’s Deputy Minister of National Defense Policy, Heo Tae-keun, assured that any North Korean provocation ensuing this move will be “promptly and strongly” punished, backed by the nation’s solid military alliance with the US.

The Inter-Korean agreement: The 2018 treaty required both nations to cease frontline aerial surveillance and reduce conventional military strength at the border.
* The agreement was criticized in South Korea, with conservative voices claiming it significantly crippled the country’s superior aerial surveillance capabilities while allowing North Korea to retain and expand its nuclear arsenal.

North Korea’s claims: North Korea assures its conducted launches are to deploy spy satellites as a defensive measure against intensifying U.S.-led threats.
* It announced the launch of its “Malligyong-1” spy satellite would enhance the nation’s war readiness and plans to launch several more such satellites to better monitor South Korea and other areas.
* North Korea’s claim of successfully placing the satellite into orbit is not independently confirmed by neighboring countries or the Pentagon.

Future concerns: Experts suggest North Korea, possibly receiving Russian technological support, is keen on introducing an array of sophisticated weapon systems.
* They predict North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s aim to generate an enlarged arsenal that could provide leverage in negotiations for sanctions relief and other concessions from the US when diplomacy resumes.
* Despite the crudity of North Korea’s satellite, civilian experts believe that operating several such satellites could enable North Korea to monitor South Korea continuously.
View original article on NPR
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