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— By Kimimasa Mayama

TANEGASHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - A rocket carrying Japan's first two spy satellites blasted off on Friday in an intelligence-gathering effort that some fear may spur its heavily armed neighbor, North Korea, to test-fire a ballistic missile.

The satellites, one optical and one radar-equipped, separated from the rocket and went into orbit as planned but will not be fully operational for several months.

"We have received word that the launch was successful," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a meeting of the Upper House budgetary committee, attended by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The news was greeted with applause.

The Japanese-made H-2A launch rocket had been seen trailing a white plume through a cloudless sky above the launch site on the tiny island of Tanegashima, 620 miles southwest of Tokyo.

The satellite deployment, which will give Japan its first independent chance to scrutinize North Korea from space, was planned after Pyongyang's 1998 firing of a Taepodong ballistic missile, which passed over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean.

Tokyo plans to launch another two similar satellites later in the year in a $2.08 billion project.

The region has been jittery since Washington said in October that North Korea had admitted to a secret nuclear weapons program. Pyongyang has since taken a number of provocative steps including firing two short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan.

Some analysts have expressed concern that North Korea, which has criticized the satellite launch as a "hostile act," could seize the opportunity to fire a Rodong ballistic missile capable of reaching Japan to grab international attention back from Iraq.

The smooth launch will be a boost for Japan's rocket launch program, which is due to be privatized in two years' time. Confidence in the program was severely damaged by two successive failures in 1998 and 1999.

photo credit and caption:

An H-2A rocket carrying Japan's first spy satellites rises into the air after blasting off from Tanegashima Space Center on the Japanese southwestern island, south west of Tokyo, March 28, 2003. Japan blasted its first spy satellites into orbit, giving Tokyo its first independent peek into heavily armed North Korea but at the risk of provoking its communist neighbor into a missile launch. Photo by Kimimasa Mayama/Reuters

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