South Korea and US to strengthen military ties post North Korea's 'spy satellite' launch
Photo: The US and South Korea will strengthen military cooperation (GettyImages)
South Korea and the US intend to strengthen military cooperation after North Korea launched a spy satellite, Yonhap reports.
Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Yang Yong-mo and his American counterpart Admiral Lisa Franchetti held the talks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which is currently docked at the Pusan Naval Base, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
During the talks, Yang called for strengthening the allies' joint defense posture, citing the military threat from North Korea.
"Amidst a grave security situation where North Korea's nuclear and missile threats are advancing, let's upgrade the South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture to another level by closely working together based on the ties built between our navies," Yang Yong-mo says.
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 found, experts said that the satellite was not useful for reconnaissance.
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 successfully launch a spy satellite.
