Kim Jong-un reviewed images of South Korean and US military sites after satellite launch

After successfully placing a military spy satellite into orbit earlier this week, Pyongyang announced that it was working, which Seoul denies.

The satellite launched by North Korea has provided its first images. Kim Jong-un reviewed images taken by North Korea’s first satellite of “targeted regions”including those of the American military base at Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, and various sites in South Korea, the North Korean state agency KCNA announced on Saturday, November 25.

The agency reported that the North Korean dictator examined images taken by his spy satellite, called “Malligyong-1”, over the US state of Hawaii around 5 a.m. (9 p.m. in Paris) , including those “from a naval base to Pearl Harbor, from Hickam Air Force Base to Honolulu”.

Images of the “main targeted regions”

Kim Jong-un also looked at satellite images taken around 10 a.m. (2 a.m. in Paris) on Saturday, according to Pyongyang, above the South Korean port city of Busan where the American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was visible USS Carl Vinson.

The US warship arrived at the Busan naval base on Tuesday, according to the South Korean military. KCNA also reported that Kim Jong-un reviewed footage of the “main targeted regions” of the Korean Peninsula, particularly Seoul, Pyeongtaek, Osan, Mokpo and Gunsan in the South, where there are South Korean and American military bases.

End of an agreement supposed to ease tensions

Pyongyang declared on Tuesday that it had successfully placed a military spy satellite into orbit. South Korea said it was too early to say the satellite was working. Experts say putting an operational spy satellite into orbit would optimize North Korea’s quest for intelligence, particularly on its South rival, by gaining access to crucial data ahead of a military conflict.

The placing of this 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. On Friday, the top diplomats from South Korea, Japan and the United States “strongly condemned the launch for its destabilizing effect on the region”the US State Department said in a statement.