North Korean leader Kim Jong Un examined photos taken by the country’s new spy satellite of “key target areas”, including the South Korean capital of Seoul and cities that host US military bases, state media said on Saturday.
Nuclear-armed North Korea launched the satellite on Tuesday, but South Korean defense officials and analysts said its capabilities had not been independently verified.
Kim examined photos of Seoul and the other cities of Mokpo, Kunsan, Pyeongtaek and Osan, where US and South Korean military bases are located.
The photos were taken as the satellite passed over the peninsula on Friday morning, state news agency KCNA said.
Kim examined photographs, as well as images of several areas inside North Korea, during a visit on Friday to the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) control center in Pyongyang.
The Pyongyang General Control Center of the Korea National Aerospace Technology Directorate, a day after the launch of a rocket carrying the ‘Malligyong-1’ reconnaissance satellite, in Pyongyang on November 22, 2023.KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Images
On Saturday, Kim visited the control center again to examine more photos taken in the morning at different target areas in South Korea: Jinhae, Busan, Ulsan, Pohang, Daegu and Gangneung.
A photo shows the US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, which arrived at a port in the South Korean city of Busan on Tuesday, according to KCNA.
During the visit, Kim also examined pictures of the US Naval Station Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base taken by the satellite as it passed over Hawaii early Saturday.
Kim Jong Un (2nd R) visits the Pyongyang General Control Center of the Korea National Aerospace Technology Directorate on November 22, 2023, a day after the launch of a rocket carrying the ‘Malligyong-1’ reconnaissance satellite.KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Images Kim Jong Un (C) and his daughter (2nd L-front) pose with scientists who contributed to the launch of a reconnaissance satellite, at the National Aerospace Technology Directorate in Pyongyang on November 23, 2023.KCNA VIA KNS/ AFP via Getty Images
In a separate commentary carried by KCNA on Saturday, North Korea criticized the United States for providing advanced weapons to its “puppets”, saying that even a small splash on the Korean peninsula would result in a global nuclear war.
“The United States had better think about the catastrophic consequences of offering weapons to puppet forces,” he said.
The top diplomats of Japan, South Korea and the United States spoke on Friday and “strongly condemned the (Nov. 21) launch because of its destabilizing effect on the region,” the US State Department said in a statement.
Earlier this week, KCNA said Kim saw images taken over the US Pacific territory of Guam which is home to US military installations.
On Thursday, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said North Korea had “exaggerated” by saying Kim had seen images of Guam.
“Even if it enters a normal orbit, it will take a long time to conduct normal reconnaissance,” Yonhap quoted him as saying at the time.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
