Japan Launches Spy Satellite to Keep Watch on North Korea Military Sites

Japan launched a rocket carrying a government intelligence-gathering satellite on Friday. This spy satellite is on a mission to keep watch on activities at military sites in North Korea and to improve responses to natural disasters.

The H2A rocket, launched by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan. It transported the Optical-8 satellite of Japan.

The Japanese government’s Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center and MHI declared the launch a success. The Optical-8 satellite was successfully placed in its planned orbit.

Japan began the intelligence-gathering satellite program after a North Korean missile flew over Japan in 1998. Japan aims to set up a network of 10 satellites, including those carrying radars that can operate at night or in severe weather, to spot and provide early warning for possible missile launches as well as natural calamities.

Hiroki Yasuda, a senior official at the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, said the existing network of intelligence satellites, captured images of quake-hit western Japan Japan for disaster response purposes.