tokyo

Hit or missile: was the North Korean rocket that buzzed Japan just trying to spread some music? Credit: APKNS

Japan is looking into launching a reconnaissance satellite to improve its ability to gather security information. The move comes despite a long-standing parliamentary resolution criticizing the ‘militarization’ of space, and follows last month's firing of a North Korean missile over Japanese territory into the Pacific Ocean.

Fears that North Korea had test-launched a three-stage ballistic missile on 31 August put Japan on a high-security alert. North Korea says it was actually launching a ‘singing satellite’ for peaceful purposes — such as broadcasting patriotic songs in praise of ‘dear leader’ Kim Jong-il. It is believed to have used a multi-stage missile with an estimated range of 2,000 kilometres.

The US State Department last week concluded that the suspected third stage of a missile actually was a small satellite, but that it failed to achieve orbit. Even if it was, Japan still views North Korea's action — firing a long-range missile over Japan without warning — as a threat to its security.

The Japanese government responded by freezing various aid packages, including 135 billion yen (US$1 billion) for an international project to build light-water reactors in North Korea. The project, carried out under the auspices of the Korean Peninsular Energy Development Organization, started in 1994 and was meant to stop North Korea pursuing its suspected nuclear weapons programme.

The rocket launch led Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to set up a working group to discuss the introduction of a multi-purpose satellite system with reconnaissance capabilities.

“We have instructed the ministries and agencies concerned to study types of satellite systems suitable for carrying out reconnaissance activities,” said Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi at a recent LDP meeting in Tokyo.

Particular attention has been given to the National Space Development Agency's Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS), scheduled for launch in 2003 to carry out a mapping, regional observation, disaster observation and earth resources survey. Ironically, ALOS, which was originally called the High-Resolution Land Observation Satellite, changed its name after the agency thought it sounded like a reconnaissance satellite with military purposes.

“Although we are obtaining information from all space-related sources under the respective ministries and agencies, the technology obtained through the development of ALOS would certainly be a great advantage for planning a possible model for Japan's reconnaissance satellite,” says Hideo Funabashi, who is responsible for space research at the Science and Technology Agency (STA).

The United States is willing to cooperate in the development of such satellites. “It is still not known whether the cooperation would be at the technical level, but there will certainly be an exchange of information,” says Funabashi.

The main sticking point could be a resolution passed by the Diet (Japan's parliament) in 1969 on the non-militarization of space. But unusually strong support from opposition parties, including the LDP's main rival the Democratic Party of Japan, may ease some of its restrictions.

As a result of a bilateral security meeting in New York last Sunday (20 September), Japan and the United States have agreed to begin joint research on the TMD system — a comprehensive defence system for intercepting ballistic missiles — which they have been discussing since 1993 when North Korea test-fired a missile into the Sea of Japan.

Japan is expected to begin the collaboration in the fiscal year 1999, which starts in April. Parliamentary approval for the project, and the allocation of an additional budget estimated at ¥5-¥10 billion, is expected to be made official by the end of this year. But the main cost of the project is expected to be between ¥20 billion and ¥30 billion for the five-year period, which is causing concern given Japan's poor economic prospects.

There is also anxiety about instability in the Defence Agency, which has been rocked by a financial scandal. Agency officials added insult to injury by trying to dispose of documents related to the scandal amid the chaos following the missile launch.