South Korea successfully launched its second military spy satellite into orbit on Monday, pushing forward an initiative to improve the country’s ability to monitor North Korea.

The ROK’s military reconnaissance satellite was launched atop a Space X Falcon-9 rocket from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida at approximately 7:17 p.m. local time (8:17 a.m. KST), according to Seoul’s defense ministry.

In a press release, the ministry stated that the satellite’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors are key to monitoring developments in the DPRK because they can collect data and information despite adverse weather conditions.

The ROK satellite separated