North Korea said today it had launched a spy satellite for the first time, while its neighbor South Korea is preparing to launch one at the end of the month, signaling the start of a space race between the rival countries.

Why does Pyongyang want this missile?

Pyongyang wants to monitor strategically important areas such as South Korea and the Pacific island of Guam where US military bases are located, according to experts.

North Korea first attempted to launch a missile in 1998, without success. In 2021, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced that the development of a spy missile is a top priority of his regime.

Real-time monitoring of these areas will allow Pyongyang to improve its “preventive strike capabilities,” emphasizes Lim Eulchul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far East Studies.

Washington and Seoul, for their part, suspect that Pyongyang is developing a new intercontinental ballistic missile, which has similar technology to rockets used to launch satellites.

Was the launch successful?

The North Korean satellite appears to have entered orbit, the country’s state media reported, the South Korean military said, clarifying that it was too early to say whether it was actually working.

Besides, even though the satellite is in orbit, that doesn’t mean it “can fulfill its mission,” according to Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

The launch came after Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted in September during his meeting with Kim that Moscow could help Pyongyang build satellites.

After the failure of a first attempt to launch a military spy satellite in late May, North Korea has improved, estimates Cha Doo-hyeong, an analyst at the Asian Institute for Policy Studies.

Advances that could translate into military gains, giving Pyongyang the ability “to arm (missiles) with nuclear warheads,” he adds.

Did Russia help?

South Korea has warned that Pyongyang is offering weapons to Moscow in exchange for Russian space technology aimed at putting a military spy satellite into orbit.

Given the time that passed between Kim’s meeting with Putin and today’s launch, analysts estimate that Moscow has only been able to help Pyongyang on a “logistical” level.

“If there was a major error that needed to be corrected, such as a change in hardware or concept, it would not be possible to launch in November,” said Jang Young-keun, a professor at Korea Aerospace University.

What stage is South Korea at?

Currently Seoul relies on Washington to help it monitor North Korea’s activities.

But South Korea recently revealed its plan to launch its own spy satellite, scheduled for launch on November 30, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

If this satellite goes into orbit, “Seoul will be in a better position to independently collect military intelligence on North Korea, which it previously received from the US and Japan,” explains Ahn Chan-il, a researcher and head of the Global Institute for North Korea Studies.

Two space powers?

The launch of South Korea’s first military spy satellite is part of Seoul’s ambitious $1 billion “Project 425” plan, which aims to put five high-resolution military satellites into orbit by 2025.

As part of this race to develop military space capabilities, Pyongyang has pledged to launch other satellites “in a short period of time” to boost South Korea’s surveillance capabilities, state media reported.