Japan prepared to launch its third intelligence-gathering satellite on Monday, enhancing its ability to monitor neighbouring North Korea two months after Pyongyang shocked the region with a barrage of missile tests.
The author suggests proposing to launch satellites for North Korea as a way of ending the current crisis over missile testing.
Six months after being launched, Japan?s first two spy satellites are monitoring nuclear activities and missile sites in North Korea.
Japan has announced that it intends to launch a second pair of spy satellites that will boost its surveillance of missiles in hardline communist North Korea.
Amateur astronomers have established that the newly launched Japanese spy satellites are indeed being used to spy on North Korean territory.
North Korea warned that Japan would face "self-destruction" if it puts a spy satellite into orbit.
Japan is preparing to launch two spy satellites with a resolution of around 1-yard in response to the growing missile threat from North Korea. The move is being questioned by Japanese officials who fear it may be in violation of Japan's constitutional restrictions on military preparations.
The author examines the impact of commercial high resolution satellite imagery on recent crises in Iraq and North Korea.
High-resolution commercial satellite imagery increases the visibility of areas of the world that were until recently seen by only a few intelligence agencies. Activities in totalitarian states such as North Korea are now visible to anyone. An episode involving North Korean secret nuclear weapon activities in the early 1990s demonstrates the power that such imagery can provide to the public and international organizations.