US ‘strongly condemns’ North Korea’s purported satellite launch

The Biden administration on Tuesday condemned North Korea after the country’s state-run news agency said Pyongyang had attempted and failed to launch a military satellite.

“The United States strongly condemns the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for its launch using ballistic missile technology, which is a brazen violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions, raises tensions, and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond,” National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement. 

Hodge also said that the apparent satellite launch “involved technologies that are directly related to the DPRK intercontinental ballistic missile program.” 

President Biden and his team will monitor the situation “in close coordination” with their allies, according to the statement, and urge other countries to condemn North Korea’s launch and call on Pyongyang to join serious negotiations on the matter. 

“The door has not closed on diplomacy but Pyongyang must immediately cease its provocative actions and instead choose engagement,” Hodge said. “The United States will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and the defense of our Republic of Korea and Japanese allies.”

The statement came after North Korea announced earlier in the day that it was planning to launch its first military spy satellite next month, saying the new military equipment was necessary due to the “reckless” military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea. 

In a statement, Ri Pyong Chol, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said that the country’s reconnaissance satellite will be used for “strengthening the military preparedness of the armed forces of the DPRK.” 

“Under the present situation brought by the reckless military acts by the U.S. and south Korea, we steadily feel the need to expand reconnaissance and information means and improve various defensive and offensive weapons and have the timetables for carrying out their development plans,” Ri added. 

“We will comprehensively consider the present and future threats and put into more thoroughgoing practice the activities for strengthening all-inclusive and practical war deterrents.”

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk urged North Korea not to launch its military spy satellite, referring to the move as “absurd.”