(Seoul) North Korea’s state agency KCNA said Saturday that leader Kim Jong-un had reviewed images taken by North Korea’s first satellite of “target areas”, including those of the US military base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and various sites in South Korea.
Pyongyang successfully placed a military spy satellite into orbit earlier this week, but Seoul said it was too early to claim, as Pyongyang claims, that it is working.
Experts say an operational spy satellite would improve North Korea’s quest for intelligence, particularly on its South rival, by providing access to crucial data ahead of a military conflict.
On Saturday, KCNA reported that Mr. Kim reviewed images taken by his satellite called “Malligyong-1” over the US state of Hawaii around 5 a.m., including those of “a naval base at Pearl Harbor, from Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu.
“Enemy region”
Mr. Kim also looked at satellite images taken around 10 a.m. Saturday, according to Pyongyang, above the South Korean port city of Busan where the American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was visible.
The US warship arrived at the Busan naval base on Tuesday, according to the South Korean military.
Kim Jong-un also reviewed the “main target areas in the enemy region”, referring to the South, including Jinhae, Busan, Ulsan, Pohang, Daegu and Gangneung, KCNA added.
Hours after entering orbit on Tuesday, Pyongyang claimed that Kim had observed images of American military bases in Guam.
KCNA also reported that Mr. Kim on Friday reviewed images of the “key target areas” of the southern Korean Peninsula, particularly Seoul and Pyeongtaek, where there are South Korean and US military bases.
Pyeongtaek, about 60 kilometers from Seoul, is home to Camp Humphreys, the largest overseas U.S. military installation in the world. Also located there is Osan Air Base, home to the Seoul Air Force Operations Command and a US Air Force base.
The images taken Friday also include some areas in the North, according to KCNA.
North Korea’s National Aerospace Technology Administration was expected to carry out “additional adjustment” of its satellite on Saturday morning, KCNA said.
The placing of the North Korean satellite into orbit led to the suspension, partial by the South and total by the North, of a military agreement concluded five years ago to ease bilateral tensions.
Doubt in Seoul
On Friday, top diplomats from South Korea, Japan and the United States “strongly condemned the launch” and “its destabilizing effect on the region,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
Pyongyang “has used ballistic missile technology in violation of several United Nations Security Council resolutions,” he added.
After two unsuccessful attempts, Pyongyang received help from Moscow to successfully put its satellite into orbit, according to Seoul’s intelligence services.
South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said Thursday that spy satellites could not produce photographs on the first day of launch, casting doubt on Pyongyang’s claims, according to the South Korean News Agency. -Korean Yonhap.
“Even if the satellite enters orbit (successfully), it takes a considerable amount of time to carry out a normal reconnaissance mission,” he explained on a radio station.
Pyongyang has been banned, by successive series of UN resolutions, from carrying out tests using ballistic technology. Analysts say there is significant technological alignment between space launch capabilities and ballistic missile development.
“If Russia had provided North Korea with a reconnaissance satellite camera this time, I think it would be possible to identify objects within a radius of at least 2 meters on the ground,” Ahn Chan said. -he, a North Korean defector who became a resident of the European Union.
Now that Pyongyang has its spy satellite, the North’s next step will likely be to continue developing its “strategic nuclear weapons” using space launch capabilities, he added.