Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara has confirmed that North Korea has launched "some object" into Earth's orbit, which could be a military "spy satellite".
What is known about the withdrawal of the North Korean "spy satellite"
Kihara told reporters that the latest assessment was done in cooperation with the United States and South Korea but refrained from commenting on whether the launch of the northern satellite was successful.
He also said Japan will carefully analyze whether the facility has functioned as intended since launch.
North Korea's attempts to launch a spy satellite into orbit
At the end of May this year, North Korea tried to put the "spy satellite" Malligyong-1 into orbit, but the launch vehicle lost its train and fell into the Yellow Sea.
Later, on June 16, South Korea raised several parts of the rocket and the satellite from the seabed. After analyzing the details, experts said that the "satellite" was not helpful for surveillance.
North Korea made a second attempt to launch a satellite on August 23. Tokyo said Pyongyang had used banned ballistic missile technology and that the projectile flew through airspace near Okinawa.
And on November 22, North Korea announced the successful launch of a ballistic missile with a spy satellite on board. Data from South Korea's intelligence agency indicate that North Korea received help from Russia to launch a spy satellite successfully.
