North Korea’s Kim Jong-un has allegedly already inspected North Korea’s acquired satellite images of US military targets.
Elsa Osipova,
Veikko Eromäki
North Korea claims to have successfully launched a military intelligence satellite into orbit on Tuesday.
North Korea made the announcement on Wednesday.
As a result of the announcement, South Korea says it will partially freeze the agreement between it and North Korea, which has banned aerial reconnaissance in the border zone that divides the countries.
South Korea said on Wednesday that a North Korean spy satellite appears to have reached orbit.
Japan says it has failed to obtain evidence that North Korea has successfully launched a spy satellite.
According to North Korea’s KCNA state media, the country’s leader Kim Jong-un would have reviewed satellite images of “important US military bases” on Wednesday.
The origin of the images was not disclosed.
According to KCNA, Kim said North Korea will “soon” launch more spy satellites because they are “important for the country’s self-defense.”
China, which has recently warmed up its relations with the United States, on Wednesday asked all parties to “maintain their composure and self-control” and do more to ease tensions.
Succeeded on the third try?
On Monday, North Korea informed the Japanese Coast Guard of its intention to launch a spy satellite.
North Korea also tried to launch a so-called “spy satellite” into orbit in March and August, but the attempts failed.
Allies USA, Japan and South Korea have repeatedly warned North Korea about the satellite launch.
If North Korea uses ballistic missile technology to launch a satellite, it will violate UN resolutions, allies say.
Western countries have raised doubts that Russia has helped North Korea with satellite technology.
According to South Korea, North Korea supplies Russia with ammunition for use in the war in Ukraine. In return, Russia supplies North Korea with Russian space technology.
South Korea and the United States have suspected that the “spy satellite” is just a pretext for North Korea. The countries doubt that in reality North Korea would try to conduct missile tests.
Sources: AP, AFP, Reuters