Kim Jong-un’s sister refuses to give up on spy satellite

Influential sister of the North Korean leader vows again to push for second launch of spy satellite

Koreas Tensions

The influential sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed again on Sunday to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as she lambasted a UN Security Council meeting over the North’s first, failed launch.

The North’s attempt to put its first military spy satellite into orbit last Wednesday failed as its rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast. An emergency meeting of the UNSC was still convened at the request of the US, Japan and other countries to discuss the launch because it had violated council resolutions banning the North from performing any launch using ballistic technology.

On Sunday, Mr Kim’s sister and senior ruling party official, Kim Yo-jong, called the UN council “a political appendage” of the United States, saying its recent meeting was convened following America's “gangster-like request”.

She accused the UN council of being “discriminative and rude” because it only takes issue with the North’s satellite launches while thousands of satellites launched by other countries are already operating in space. She said that her country’s attempt to acquire a spy satellite is a legitimate step to respond to military threats posed by the US and its allies.

“(North Korea) will continue to take proactive measures to exercise all the lawful rights of a sovereign state, including the one to a military reconnaissance satellite launch,” Kim Yo-jong said in a statement carried by state media.

In her earlier statement Friday, Ms Kim said the North’s spy satellite “will be correctly put on space orbit in the near future" but didn't say when its second launch attempt would take place.

South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Wednesday that it will likely take “more than several weeks” for North Korea to learn the cause of the failed launch but it may attempt a second launch soon if defects aren’t serious.

A military surveillance satellite is among a list of sophisticated weapons systems that Kim Jong-un has vowed to acquire amid protracted security tensions with the United States. Since the start of 2022, Mr Kim has carried out more than 100 missile tests in what he called a warning over expanded military drills between the US and South Korea.

Experts say that he would want to use his modernised weapons arsenal to wrest concessions from Washington and its partners in future diplomacy.

North Korea was slapped with rounds of UN sanctions over its past nuclear and missile tests and satellite launches. However, the UNSC failed to toughen those sanctions over North Korea’s recent testing activities because China and Russia, both permanent members of the UN council, blocked the US and others’ attempts to do so. During the latest UN council session Friday, China and Russia again clashed with the US over the North’s failed launch.

After repeated failures, North Korea placed Earth-observation satellites into orbit in 2012 and 2016, but foreign experts say there is no evidence that either satellite transmitted imagery and other data.