After the UN's condemnation of the latest satellite launch, the DPRK will no longer inform the International Maritime Organization (IMO) about its missile launches, an editorial by foreign affairs specialist Kim Myong Chol published in the state-run news agency suggested.

"As IMO responded to the DPRK's advance notice on its satellite launch with the adoption of an anti-DPRK 'resolution', we will regard this as its official manifestation of stand that the DPRK's advance notice is no longer necessary. In the future, IMO should know and take measures by itself over the period of the DPRK's satellite launch and the impact point of its carrier and be prepared for taking full responsibility for all the consequences to be entailed from it," the commentary, titled "IMO Reduced into Tool for White House," read.

According to the South Korean Foreign Ministry, the IMO's Maritime Safety Committee adopted a resolution on May 31 denouncing the DPRK's missile launches as a 'serious threat to the security of international shipping' and calling for adherence to regulations, including giving advance notice of any missile tests.

It was the first resolution by the IMO to denounce Pyongyang's rocket launches. Resolutions, circulars, and decisions make up the organization's official papers; according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry, resolutions are the ones that make the strongest recommendations to member nations. In 1998, 2006, and 2016, the IMO issued circulars expressing alarm about Pyongyang's ongoing unannounced missile launches.

This comes in the backdrop of an unsuccessful attempt by the DPRK to put the Malligyong-1 military reconnaissance satellite mounted on the Chollima-1 carrier rocket into orbit.

The United States, South Korea, and Japan all rushed to the UN to slam the launch, claiming it breached UN resolutions prohibiting the nuclear-armed country from conducting ballistic missile tests.

Pyongyang warned the IMO ahead of time that it would launch the satellite between May 31 and June 11, cautioning that rocket debris might affect the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and the waters close to the northernmost island of the Philippines, Luzon.
 
Commenting on this issue, the analyst contended that the IMO "cooked up such resolution" for "the first time in history," demonstrating that the group "has been completely politicized, abandoning its original mission of promoting international cooperation in the field of maritime security."

'IMO turns into a plaything of the US'

To "protect the security of the country and the people from the ever-more reckless military hostile acts of the US and its vassal forces and to defend the regional peace and stability," Kim said, North Korea has a sovereign right to increase its military capability.

He also highlighted that Pyongyang carries out missile test-firing exercises in the "safest way" possible, while also considering the security of other nations, and "there has been no harm" to anybody thus far.

In addition, while it was not obligated to do so, the DPRK sent a warning to the Marine Security Agency of Japan and informed the IMO of the launch time and a potential landing site for missile debris.

It is worth noting that Pyongyang warned the IMO ahead of time that it would launch the satellite between May 31 and June 11, cautioning that rocket debris might affect the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and the waters close to the northernmost island of the Philippines, Luzon.

"What was surprising is that IMO, when receiving our previous notice, said it was not obligatory and then later impudently talked about ‘violation of the regulations,’" he said.
 
If these measures continue, the organization runs the risk of losing the trust of the international community and turning into a "plaything" of the United States, the expert cautioned.

This comes in light of recent US military exercises with regional allies South Korea and Japan on the Korean Peninsula, which the DPRK explained simulate rehearsals for an invasion of its territory.

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