MOSCOW, April 8 (Sputnik) – South Korea has successfully launched its second domestically-produced reconnaissance satellite on board SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in the US state of Florida, media reported on Monday, citing the South Korean Defense Ministry.
The rocket lifted off at 8:17 a.m. Seoul time (23:17 Sunday GMT) and sent the intelligence satellite into orbit approximately 45 minutes after the launch, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
The satellite established contact with an unspecified foreign ground station at 10:57 a.m., the report said.
This is Seoul’s second military satellite launch under South Korea’s plan to put five reconnaissance satellites into orbit by 2025 to monitor North Korea’s activities, the report also said. The move comes as North Korea is allegedly boosting efforts to develop space reconnaissance capabilities, which could potentially enhance its “precision strike capability” against major targets in South Korea and the United States, the report added.
On November 21, 2023, Pyongyang successfully carried out the launch of its Malligyong-1 reconnaissance satellite into orbit aboard the Chollima-1 carrier rocket after two failed launch attempts in May and August. Following the launch, South Korea partially suspended the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement aimed at reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. In response, Pyongyang announced its decision to restore all military measures suspended under the 2018 inter-Korean military accord.