opinion

Ri Song Jin, a researcher of the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) of the DPRK, on December 6 issued the following article, titled "The deployment of the US Space Force in the Asia-Pacific region is the end product of Washington's attempt at regional hegemony":

The US aggressive attempt to contain its strategic rivals and establish military supremacy in the Asia-Pacific region is becoming more conspicuous in space, too.

A typical example is the fact that the US held a ceremony of founding the US space force in Japan at the Yokoda Air Force Base on December 4.

The US Indo-Pacific Space Commander tried to deceive the international community, building public opinion that this is an inevitable measure to contain the "military threats" from the DPRK, Russia and China.

But the offensive mission of the US Space Force and its continuous expansion into the overseas region clearly prove that such military moves are not aimed at coping with someone's "threats".

As already recognized by the Pentagon's senior officials, the mission of the US Space Force is not only to monitor the situation of the conflict on the earth, but also to neutralize the enemy in case of the space-based military operations and to make the forces deployed in space part of the US war capabilities.

The number of the US Space Force, which had been more than 200 in the early period of its foundation in 2019, has increased over 40 times in just three to four years and the development and test of various weapons for space warfare are being accelerated according to the ever-increasing space force budget.

The US, after setting the Asia-Pacific region as the first overseas stationing place of the offensive space force, formed the Indo-Pacific Space Command in November 2022 to deploy its first space field forces in the puppet ROK region in December that year and organized the US space force in Japan this time.

The true purpose is clear.

The purpose is to rapidly turn outer space, a common asset of the whole mankind, into a battlefield in case of emergency, preemptively secure the space-based strike capability against independent sovereign states in the region and hold an absolute military edge with the involvement of vassal forces by intensively deploying space field forces in the Asia-Pacific region.

This is proved by the fact that the US space force in the puppet ROK has frequently joined Ulji Freedom Shield and other joint military exercises to master capability for operation in contingency of the Korean peninsula and the US and Japan in November conspired to expand the inter-state space cooperation including the development of low-orbit satellite under the pretext of coping with the "threat" of ultra-supersonic missiles from other countries.

Obviously, the deployment of the US Space Force in the Asia-Pacific region is part of Washington's moves to seek hegemony, and it is another new factor of instability that draws the military tension in the region closer to the real danger of armed conflict.

The gravity of the situation lies in the fact that the possibility of a military conflict in the region is rapidly expanding into space beyond the existing military operation sphere, including the ground, sea and air, due to the irresponsible behaviour of the US.

The reality in which the US is getting frantic with space militarization by massively deploying space force into the Korean peninsula and its vicinity urgently requires the DPRK to firmly ensure the strategic security balance in the region by putting spurs to grasping all the military moves of the hostile forces in space and taking timely measures for action.

The DPRK will deter any military provocation of the hostile forces and firmly defend the security interests of the state and peace and stability in the region by exercising more thoroughly and perfectly the right to self-defence.