TOKYO, November 24. /TASS/. The Japanese Defense Ministry has registered an orbital object that may be North Korea’s recently launched satellite, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters on Friday.

"We confirmed that a certain object is moving in the Earth’s orbit," he said.

At the same time, the minister refrained from commenting on whether North Korea’s latest space launch was successful.

Earlier, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that Pyongyang apparently managed to take its first reconnaissance satellite to the orbit. However, in Seoul’s opinion, assessing whether the spacecraft is functioning properly will take time. According to North Korea’s official KCNA news agency, the launch of the Malligyong-1 satellite was a success. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un congratulated scientists, engineers and workers involved in the project.