North Korea’s Failed Spy Satellite Wasn’t Ready for Military Use, Seoul Analysis Shows

SEOUL—North Korea’s spy satellite, which exploded midflight and fell into the Yellow Sea, couldn’t be used for military purposes, according to a South Korean analysis of the recovered debris.

The May 31 failed launch represented the Kim Jong Un regime’s first attempt at sending a spy satellite into space. Such technology—one of Kim’s central weapons pursuits—would give Pyongyang surveillance capabilities it lacks now and aid the targeting of a potential nuclear strike. 

To recover the satellite debris, South Korea deployed search naval vessels, deep-sea divers and aircraft. They recovered the rocket and parts of the satellite last month. South Korea and the U.S. then conducted a joint analysis.

On Wednesday, South Korea’s military said that, based on its evaluation of the wreckage, the North Korean spy satellite shouldn’t be considered military grade. Left unaddressed were questions such as whether any of the satellite’s components were sourced outside North Korea and what type of engine and fuel were used in the rocket.

The rudimentary assessment of North Korea’s satellite debris suggests the Kim regime has a long way to go to meet the global standard for military use, said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. To meet such a threshold, North Korea would need more-advanced capabilities like being able to capture high-resolution imagery, he added.

“What I can say is that this is a North Korean version of a military satellite,” Park said. 

The second stage of the North’s brand-new “Chollima-1” rocket malfunctioned, sending debris into the waters west of the Korean Peninsula. The irregular flight path triggered emergency alerts in Japan and South Korea. Residents in Seoul received text messages recommending people prepare for a potential evacuation.

North Korea has vowed to attempt a follow-up satellite launch soon. Kim had made several inspection visits to the country’s satellite-launch facility in the buildup to the botched test. At a Politburo meeting last month in the test’s aftermath, North Korean officials were “bitterly criticized” for “irresponsibly” conducting the satellite-launch preparations, according to state media.

The North Korean satellite is believed to be about 4.3 feet long and weigh around 660 pounds, according to South Korean lawmakers briefed by the country’s spy agency. The satellite is only capable of basic reconnaissance duty, they said. 

The technology that North Korea possesses currently has resolution that is no better than what commercial satellites provide, such as for Google Earth, said Yang Uk, a military expert at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank in Seoul. 

“The danger is that North Korea is not concerned about violating international rules when it comes to testing rockets, and will continue test launching under the pretense of developing capabilities in space,” Yang said. 

Write to Timothy W. Martin at [email protected] and Dasl Yoon at [email protected]