North Korea plays its cards face up

It is no surprise that Pyongyang has also made public many unique details related to this matter. For example, North Korea has made it clear that the satellite’s mission is to directly monitor the military activities of the US and its traditional strategic military allies in the Northeast Asian region - namely Japan and South Korea - in order not only to grasp the situation but also to proactively respond to and prevent it, as well as to continue testing some other features and technologies related to rockets and satellites. Pyongyang has only informed Tokyo in advance.

There is a hidden agenda and purpose to all of this. North Korea is banned and sanctioned by the UN for its nuclear tests and missile launches. But the UN cannot ban or sanction Pyongyang for launching a satellite-launching rocket. That means the US, Japan, South Korea, or anyone else can only object or try to prevent North Korea from launching a satellite-launching rocket.

Recently, the US, South Korea and Japan have increased their coordination in response to North Korea's continuous missile launches. So the above move is a way for North Korea to play its cards openly to achieve all its goals at the same time. To affirm the continuation of its missile program and deter the other three, so that Japan does not shoot down North Korea's rockets and to create a fait accompli that the other side has no reason to stop.