Seoul, South Korea.- North Korean Ruler Kim Jong Un has announced that his nation has completed the development of its first military reconnaissance satellite and ordered authorities to launch it on schedule, the official news agency reported on Wednesday.
Kim stressed Tuesday during his visit to the National Aerospace Development Administration (ANDA) that acquiring a space-based surveillance system is crucial against what he called US-led security threats, the Central News Agency reported. Korea (ACNC).
North Korea has claimed that its recent series of weapons tests, including the first test firing of a solid-propelled ICBM designed to reach the US mainland, are a response to joint military exercises between the US and its regional allies Korea. South and Japan.
At ANDA, Kim said military reconnaissance tasks were crucial for North Korea to use its deterrence methods effectively, according to the ACNC.
Kim said the “first military reconnaissance satellite” had been completed in April and ordered final preparations for its launch to be accelerated at an undisclosed date. He noted that North Korea must launch several satellites to firmly establish an intelligence-gathering capability, according to the ACNC.
Kim also accused the United States and South Korea of expanding their hostile military campaigns in the name of strengthening their alliance. He accused the United States of turning South Korea into a “forward base of aggression” by deploying strategic assets such as aircraft carriers and nuclear-capable bombers.
The US and South Korean militaries have expanded their joint exercises to bolster their deterrent capabilities in the face of growing nuclear threats from North Korea. This week they launched a 12-day air exercise involving some 110 combat aircraft, and organized a one-day missile defense naval exercise with Japan.
North Korea, for its part, has conducted about 100 rounds of missile tests since early last year, about 30 of them this year. The observers said that while North Korea protests the US and South Korean drills, it is also using them as a pretext to advance its own military capabilities, which it believes will put more pressure on Washington to make further concessions, such as the lifting of sanctions.
A spy satellite is one of the high-tech weapons that Kim has been developing. The others are a solid-propelled ICBM, a nuclear submarine, a hypersonic missile, and a multiple-warhead missile. North Korea has conducted tests of these weapons, but it is unclear to what extent they are operational.
Many experts wonder if North Korea has sophisticated cameras to use on a spy satellite, since the photos it has released from previous test launches were low-resolution images.
Kim’s comments appeared to link the spy satellite to North Korea’s progressive nuclear doctrine, which authorizes pre-emptive nuclear strikes. According to the ACNC, Kim said that one of the objectives of his military reconnaissance satellite is to acquire the ability to “preemptively use the armed forces according to the circumstances.”
Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said North Korea is communicating that its military reconnaissance satellites would be designed to acquire precise location and movement information in real time so that its missiles and other weapons nuclear weapons can hit targets with precision. He also noted that North Korea will likely inform international telecommunication and maritime authorities of its concrete launch plans, likely sometime between May and September.
To put a reconnaissance satellite into orbit would require a long-range rocket. But the UN bans such launches because it sees them as a cover to test its long-range ballistic missile technology.
North Korea launched its first and second Earth observation satellites into orbit in 2012 and 2016, but foreign experts noted that none of them transmitted images to North Korea. The UN imposed sanctions for those launches.
North Korea has avoided new UN sanctions over its recent ballistic missile tests in 2022 and this year because Russia and China, permanent members of the UN Security Council, do not support attempts by the United States and other countries to toughen up sanctions against it.
