Russian experts visit North Korea to help with spy satellites: Report
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Russia dispatched the experts after President Vladimir Putin met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in September 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SEOUL – A large number of Russian experts went to North Korea to help with its spy satellite development, reported South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, as Pyongyang looks set to soon try to put another reconnaissance probe into orbit.
Russia dispatched the experts after President Vladimir Putin met leader Kim Jong Un last September and pledged to help North Korea with its space programme, Yonhap reported on May 26, citing a senior defence official it did not name.
North Korea has conducted multiple rocket engine tests since then, likely to meet the standards of the visiting Russian technicians, Yonhap cited the official as saying. The report did not say how many Russian experts have visited or when exactly any visit took place.
South Korean Ministry of Defence officials were not immediately available for comment on the report.
While Seoul believes that any North Korean satellite would be rudimentary at best, such technology could help Mr Kim’s regime in its targeting as it steps up its ability to deliver a nuclear strike.
North Korea may launch a spy satellite as soon as later in May, Japanese TV network FNN reported on May 24, citing Japanese government officials it did not name.
Japanese and South Korean media reported last week that the authorities have detected signs at a North Korean space centre of a satellite launch. Equipment used to measure and assess the trajectory of a space rocket has been recently spotted at the launch site, Yonhap said.
North Korea last launched a rocket in November
The US, South Korea and others have accused North Korea of sending to Russia massive amounts of artillery shells, along with its newest family of short-range nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, for use in its war on Ukraine.
Russia, in return, is providing North Korea with food, raw materials and parts used in weapons manufacturing, South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik has said. Pyongyang and Moscow have denied the charges. Bloomberg
