North Korea says it put military spy satellite into orbit on third try

Observers doubt whether the satellite is advanced enough to perform military reconnaissance.

The news story could have stopped there in paragraph 2.

Why should North Korea's launching of a spy satellite be condemned when the U.S. and its allies have already developed the technology and has been surveying North Korea's military movements right from space? 

To anyone’s chagrin, an arms buildup on both sides seems to know no bound.

I'm sure the NK engineers will be very happy. A third fail could have had some unwanted consequences. hey warned Japan about the launch so broke no regulations.

Does China, NK, or anyone else have warning sirens when Japan launches her satellites?

BertieWoosterToday 05:14 pm JST

“So why don't the US invade NK and "change" the leadership?” 

Because there's nothing in it for them! - NK doesn't have oil, unlike Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

Please site me the US oil contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine.

Goes to show you what impoverishing your people and devoting resources to a small privileged class dedicated to accomplishing your goals can accomplish.

NK doesn't hold a monopoly on that!

Kim can now use his "state of the art" 1970's technology to see what his good and dear friend, ex President Trump is doing in Florida.

Kim is no doubt even now, stealing satellite streaming from the likes of Disney and Hulu which are illegal and banned in NK to the masses.

Now that they know they can actually get something into a stable orbit, they can work on development of an actual spy satellite. What is up there right now will cease to function when the battery goes flat.

The citizens of NK starve to death, while the dictator brags that he has a spy satellite. Got it.

Mr KiplingToday  08:52 am JST

I'm sure the NK engineers will be very happy. A third fail could have had some unwanted consequences. hey warned Japan about the launch so broke no regulations.

North Korea has (again) violated UN resolutions prohibiting it from all rocker launches, as they are a cover for missle development. They also broke UN resolutions in exporting arms and ammunition to Russia.

The Japanese government briefly issued a J-Alert missile warning for Okinawa, urging residents to take shelter.

It did last 45 mn with all main tv channels stopping their programs.

But what is the point of this alert. No way to shelter anyway. N-Korea does not target Japan and the rocket/missile does fly thousands of km over. No debris have fallen over Japan and its waters up to date. Once the alert is launched, the missile is already flying over the country.

These alerts are politically motivated, keeping the population at fear and justifying the military budget.

DPRK is an independent country it can decide whatever it can do within its territory , on the contrary Japan cannot do anything without the permission from its US maters even inside Japan.

Mr Kipling quote: "(T)hey warned Japan about the launch so broke no regulations."

Yes, but they lied about the timing.

*U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Washington strongly condemned North Korea for the launch, saying it "raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond.”*

No one can blame North Korea for trying to develop spy satellites when you yourself have already developed the technology and have been surveying your enemy's moves.            

The catch is which side will win out this arms race, succumbing to the burden of spending so much money on defense.

The North’s space agency said that its new “Chollima-1” carrier rocket accurately placed the Malligyong-1 satellite into orbit on Tuesday night, about 12 minutes after liftoff from the country’s main launch center.

Cheers for the Dear leader, a great friend and all around great guy!

Goes to show you what impoverishing your people and devoting resources to a small privileged class dedicated to accomplishing your goals can accomplish.

The beautiful North Korean people deserve better but the authoritarianism and scarcity they experience is an exaggerated version of what even those in the G20 nations are experiencing more and more.

Didnt appreciate getting woken up at around 11 PM last night, just as I was falling asleep and with the sirens and cell phone warnings!

Not a happy camper this AM!

Japan acting like Chicken Little with all their sirens and alerts. Just what exactly are we supposed to do, there aren't any shelters or subways on Okinawa. Oh, maybe we can all run to Naha City Hall's underground parking garage. One thing for sure, NK's success rate is better than JAXA.

The alert was, .. quite alarming. It was nothing like an advice to be careful with a satellite and more about the risk of a missile incoming. People in Japan are used to these alarms but in case of an earthquake they have been trained for it.

This was a brand new risk to be fearful of. So, the "J-alarm" serves nicely for Kishida's plan to double the army budget, isn't it?

NK would get more accurate data for free from public websites.

If Russia and NK were considered a real threat, the US would have destabilised Putin's regime by now and done a deal with Beijing to sort out NK.

If you want to know whether they got it up there, ask NASA, not a bunch of politicians.

It's political theatre.

Elections have consequences

I think you are confused. It isn't an election if there's only 1 name on the ballot.

Only one candidate appears on each ballot. Elections are ostensibly conducted by secret ballot, and a voter may cross off the candidate's name to vote against them. Voting is mandatory and turnout is habitually near 100%.

The candidates would be reviewed for qualifications such as loyalty and "revolutionary mindset".

Nice, if you want only specific people to ever hold power.

Actions have repercussions, at some point.

There are many different orbits for satellites, which means that having many different satellites to cover all the desired locations in the world is standard practice. Orbital mechanics around the Earth-Moon system isn't THAT hard, but it is rocket science. If NK wants satellite coverage over their territories, there are a few different orbits, but that depends on their ability to perform higher orbital launches and non-trivial transfer orbits.

Jeez, now NK can spy from space just like the RS of the USA. Who takes the UN seriously anyway?

So far the only ones claiming a successful launch and orbital insertion are the NORKs. For some reason, NORAD is not reporting data for a new satellite or any debris orbiting the Earth. Maybe NORAD doesn't want to publish any information that would be helpful to the NORKs. And maybe the satellite is now a submarine.

elephant200Today 10:56 am JST

Soon after North Korea providing ammunitions to Russia for their Ukraine Campaign, the Russians gave the know-how of launching a satellite to space in success. True good works and good neighbours indeed. Stalin and Kim Ilsun were boss & staff, their partnership succeeding by the brotherhood of Putin & K.J. !

Best buddies hunting journalists together.

No doubt the Russians helped. What did N.K. trade for that information.?

North Korea just fired a ballistic missile toward Japanese mainland, it appears to have failed according to the ROK military.

Just space junk!

Elections have consequences

@diagonalslip

NK doesn't hold a monopoly on that!

Isn’t that what @dagon wrote in his original comment quoted below? Perhaps you should fully read someone’s comment before you scratch that itch to criticize.

”… the authoritarianism and scarcity [North Koreans] experience is an exaggerated version of what even those in the G20 nations are experiencing more and more.”

The sooner North Korea becomes a peaceful trading partner to the world with abundant resources, the sooner would its launchings be valued to help take down the asteroids that must eventually fall to Earth.

Successful launch, but failed to place into orbit? Just whispers so far...

ROK military confirms the satellite is in orbit, but cannot verify if it's in operation.

Kim says it does, and he has seen the photograph of Guam base taken by the satellite.

Yes, I get by with a little help from my friends . . .

North Korea has the right to defend itself?

By “North Korean spy satellite” I can only assume they mean “satellite that beams Google Maps down to North Korea when their Internet goes down”.

So, what they want? A cookie?

whether the North Korean satellite actually performs reconnaissance functions

Probably not. The goal was to put a satellite into orbit, so congratulations on the technical progression. Now, if people could stop this war mongering nonsense, North Korea could build a domestic industry, and start cooperate with its neighbors.

 But the launch still invited strong condemnation from the United States and its partners because the U.N. bans North Korea from conducting satellite launches, calling them covers for tests of missile technology.

Lol NK is conducting missile tests secretly

“So why don't the US invade NK and "change" the leadership?” 

Because there's nothing in it for them!  - NK doesn't have oil, unlike Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

The Japanese government briefly issued a J-Alert missile warning for Okinawa, urging residents to take shelter.

Gotta keep 'em fearful. I mean, how much anti-missile tech is there on Okinawa that could deal with a missile that has been signalled days in advance and has everyone looking at the launch site?

If was able to reach orbital velocity,NASA would put it in it orbital catalog to track it,not like it will be hidden up there Google North Korea Satellite Orbital Catalog

Soon after North Korea providing ammunitions to Russia for their Ukraine Campaign, the Russians gave the know-how of launching a satellite to space in success. True good works and good neighbours indeed. Stalin and Kim Ilsun were boss & staff, their partnership succeeding by the brotherhood of Putin & K.J. !

Japan will call anything a missile to fit their agenda and justify the military spending. It was a space rocket, NOT a missile. And to those who have argued before that technically it can be called a missile, than so can anything flying through the sky, like all the commercial missiles going to and from airports in Japan. US forces missiles flying everywhere, as well as the SDFs. Not to mention Japan sending up missiles with their H1 program, or kids in the parks wearing baseball gloves and lobbing missiles -- even hitting them with bats!!

So why don't the US invade NK and "change" the leadership? There must be wmd in there somewhere

Why should North Korea's launching of a spy satellite be condemned when the U.S. and its allies have already developed the technology and has been surveying North Korea's military movements right from space? 

Let me guess? You want to invite Kim to Okinawa for a dance around the campfire singing "kumbaya"?