THE recent launch of a reconnaissance satellite by North Korea presents a 'serious risk' to international civil aviation and shipping, the UN Security Council heard, reported New York's UN News.
The UN's Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Mohamed Khaled Khiari, told ambassadors the satellite had been loaded onto a rocket launched on November 21.
The National Aerospace Technology Administration of North Korea announced that it was the first of several intelligence-gathering satellites to be launched 'in a short span of time'.
Said Mr Khiari: 'The launches represent a serious risk to international civil aviation and maritime traffic.'
Mr Khiari also said that pyongyang had failed to issue airspace or maritime safety notifications to relevant UN bodies (the International Maritime Organisation, International Civil Aviation Organisation, and International Telecommunications Union), although the Japanese Coast Guard had been informed.
Sovereign states do have the right to benefit from peaceful space activities, the senior UN official said, but Security Council resolutions expressly 'prohibit' North Korea from conducting any launches using ballistic missile technology.
Responding to the launch, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly reiterated his call on North Korea to fully comply with its international obligations and resume dialogue to achieve the goal of sustainable peace and the 'complete and verifiable denuclearization' of the Korean Peninsula.
Said Mr Khiari: 'The increase in nuclear rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula is deeply concerning.'
Pyongyang continues to implement a five-year military plan unveiled in January 2021, he said, which includes developing a military reconnaissance satellite - also informally known as 'spy satellites' - along with various other weapons systems including tactical nuclear weapons.
SeaNews Turkey
The UN's Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Mohamed Khaled Khiari, told ambassadors the satellite had been loaded onto a rocket launched on November 21.
The National Aerospace Technology Administration of North Korea announced that it was the first of several intelligence-gathering satellites to be launched 'in a short span of time'.
Said Mr Khiari: 'The launches represent a serious risk to international civil aviation and maritime traffic.'
Mr Khiari also said that pyongyang had failed to issue airspace or maritime safety notifications to relevant UN bodies (the International Maritime Organisation, International Civil Aviation Organisation, and International Telecommunications Union), although the Japanese Coast Guard had been informed.
Sovereign states do have the right to benefit from peaceful space activities, the senior UN official said, but Security Council resolutions expressly 'prohibit' North Korea from conducting any launches using ballistic missile technology.
Responding to the launch, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly reiterated his call on North Korea to fully comply with its international obligations and resume dialogue to achieve the goal of sustainable peace and the 'complete and verifiable denuclearization' of the Korean Peninsula.
Said Mr Khiari: 'The increase in nuclear rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula is deeply concerning.'
Pyongyang continues to implement a five-year military plan unveiled in January 2021, he said, which includes developing a military reconnaissance satellite - also informally known as 'spy satellites' - along with various other weapons systems including tactical nuclear weapons.
SeaNews Turkey
