North Korea’s Kim inspects new photos of ‘major target areas’ taken by spy satellite
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected new photos of “major target areas” taken by Pyongyang’s spy satellite, the state media says.
In a report on Saturday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that, a day earlier, Kim had visited the Pyongyang General Control Center of the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) and had observed new photos taken by the country’s recently-launched military spy satellite.
It added that the photos of “major target regions” included those of the South Korean capital of Seoul, cities in the South, like Mokpo, Gunsan, Pyeongtaek, and Osan that host American military bases as the satellite passed over the Korean Peninsula on Friday morning.
The satellite also took images of some areas within North Korea and parts of Hawaii, the report further said.
According to KCNA, Kim visited the center to “learn about the operational preparation of the reconnaissance satellite” and examined the newly-taken aerospace photos.
“The NATA reported to Kim Jong-un on the plan for photographing the region of South Korean puppets and the additional fine-tuning process of the reconnaissance satellite,” the report said.
“The United States had better ponder on the catastrophic consequences that would be brought by its weapons supplies to puppets,” KCNA said in a separate commentary.
Pyongyang launched a satellite on Tuesday, its third attempt this year after two failures, as South Korean officials claim that the latest launch purportedly involved Russian technical assistance.
The United States has accused North Korea of supplying Russia with weapons to be used in its war against Ukraine in return for receiving technical assistance required for its ballistic and space programs.
Moscow and Pyongyang have strongly denied arms deals but have promised deeper cooperation, including on satellites.
Last month, South Korea, the US, and Japan just concluded a two-day joint maritime drills in waters near South Korea’s Jeju Island. Pyongyang views the military exercises as a rehearsal for invasion.
Pyongyang maintains that it will not tolerate persisting US-led war games in the area, underlining that it will continue responding to the joint military maneuvers by holding its own drills as well as developing and testing all sorts of weaponry, including missiles that could reach as far as the US mainland.
The North has been under harsh sanctions by the US and the United Nations Security Council for years over its deterrent nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
