SEOUL (AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country has finished building its first military reconnaissance satellite and gave the green light for its launch, state media said Wednesday.
“Possessing and operating military reconnaissance means is the most crucial primary task for increasing the military effectiveness and utility of different war deterrence means,” Kim emphasized as he hailed Pyongyang’s remarkable core space sci-tech achievements during a visit to the country’s National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA), state news agency KCNA reported.
He further underlined the significance of developing the space-based surveillance system to counter continued U.S.-led military threats against the nation, citing what he referred to as the serious security threats posed by “the most hostile rhetoric and explicit action” by the United States and South Korea’s actions this year.
Kim also noted that Pyongyang must launch several satellites to firmly establish its intelligence-gathering capability to effectively use its methods of war deterrence.
The North Korean leader then went on to lash out at the U.S. and South Korea for expanding their hostile military campaigns in the name of bolstering their alliance, blaming Washington for transforming South Korea into “an advanced base for aggression” by deploying strategic assets like aircraft carriers and nuclear-capable bombers.
“In the light of the present situation, in which the U.S. imperialists are deploying nuclear carriers, nuclear strategic bombers and other huge strategic assets of various missions on a permanent basis on the Korean peninsula and its vicinity to turn south Korea into an advanced base for aggression and an arsenal for war, and of the prospective concern that the military actions of the U.S. and south Korea threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) under the pretext of the allied readiness would get more undisguised,” Kim pointed out.
One of the objectives of developing the military reconnaissance satellite is to acquire capability to “use pre-emptive military force when the situation demands,” he added.
This is while Western military experts have discounted Pyongyang’s possession of sophisticated cameras to use on an advanced military reconnaissance satellite arguing that photos it has released from previous test launches were low-resolution imagery.
However, Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s sister and a powerful advisor, dismissed such assessments, noting that the test satellite carried a commercial camera because there was no reason to use an expensive, high-resolution camera for a single-shot test.
Kim further explained that the nation’s recent weapons tests, including North Korea’s first test-launch of a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the U.S. mainland, were in response to the continuous and beefed up war games jointly conducted by the US and key regional allies, South Korea and Japan.
*****North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) has ordered the launch of the country’s first surveillance satellite.