South Korea says the North Korean spy satellite has indeed entered orbit, and one South Korean MP says it was made possible thanks to help from Russia. North Korean state media reports the satellite will now undergo some adjustments before its first official mission begins on December 1. More now from CNN's.

Will Ripley as if the world doesn't have enough to worry about rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, north Korea claims big progress in its satellite program. Supreme leader Kim Jong UN appearing triumphant in state media, posing for propaganda cameras with a team of North Korean scientists and engineers celebrating an apparently successful third attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit. Two failed launches earlier this year. Pyongyang promises more satellite launches in the near future. Satellites crucial to improving the accuracy of North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile program, a program banned by the United Nations Security Council, possibly perfected with the help of Russian rocket scientists acting on orders from President Vladimir Putin. Kim and Putin's September summit at this Russian space launch complex, signaling Moscow's growing support for Pyongyang's space program, a partnership believed to be providing Putin with badly needed North Korean weapons, arming Russian soldiers on the battlefields of Ukraine. Putin told state media reporters at the time russia would help North Korea launch its own satellites and rockets, saying that's exactly why we came here. Japanese authorities issued an emergency warning, what they believed to be a satellite carrying ballistic missile soaring over Okinawa.

Today, North Korea conducted a launch using ballistic missile technology. The Japanese prime minister condemning the launch. Swift reactions from South Korea. Seoul suspending military pacts with the north. The North Korean regime is entirely responsible for this situation, a troubling sign even for locals who live every day under threat from the nuclear arm north.

The successful launch of North Korea's spy satellite means that their technology has improved that much.

We're at North Korea's brand new satellite control center. In 2015, I met with senior officials at North Korea's satellite control center. They insisted their purpose was peaceful space exploration, even expressing outrage at ongoing speculation they were secretly operating a ballistic missile development program.

Our peaceful launch was not a threat yesterday, a threat to you today, and it won't be a threat tomorrow.

Tomorrow has arrived, and this may be just the beginning.

Intentions are already flaring up on the Korean peninsula. The South Korean military says less than 24 hours after this satellite launch, a ballistic missile was launched from the North Korean capital area. But they believe that missile failed just minutes after taking off. Now, in the meantime, the big question, the unanswered question, is whether this satellite is actually able to conduct reconnaissance. We know that it's in orbit, but.

Can it actually surveil US.

Military installation in places like Guam or Hawaii or Japan?

That remains the unknown question.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.