US Rages Over North Korea’s Spy Satellite Photos
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Salma Hossein
- . November 28, 2023
- . Update: November 28, 2023 5:12 pm
North Korea has drawn irk from the United States after Pyongyang claimed that its spy satellite took photos of the White House, the Pentagon and a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier docked at a naval base.
Though not being able to independently verify these claims, the US said North Korea should immediately cease its provocative actions. “We strongly condemn North Korea’s launch of space vehicles using ballistic missile technology.” Moreover, the US National Security Council said they haven’t closed their doors on diplomacy with Pyongyang.
North Korea’s latest activities come after it vowed last week to resume all banned military measures under the 2018 pact owing to South Korea’s partial suspension of the agreement.
North Korea’s Spy Satellite
North Korea launched the Malligyong-1, its spy satellite, last week. Kim Jong-un, as per state media Korean Central News Agency, has seen the latest images photographed using the satellite’s reconnaissance probe – Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, Rome, Pearl Harbor, and the US Navy’s Carl Vinson aircraft carrier. It also took detailed photographs of the White House and the Pentagon.
North Korea said the satellite also took photographs of military installations in South Korea. However, Seoul doubts the capabilities of the rouge country’s satellite. A South Korean military official said the new satellite achieved its own technological progress to some extent.
“The North claims that it photographed US aircraft carriers and naval bases in Hawaii just 10 hours after launch. That is not possible, but a proper operation of a military satellite requires months of testing, verification and correction.”
South Korea brushed this off as propaganda saying that North Korea failed to put the satellite into orbit in May. An official said it had limited operational capabilities and provided very poor resolution images. “It is highly questionable whether North Korea addressed these limitations in a short period.”
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Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US’s ambassador to the UN, said the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has made its motivations clear. “The DPRK is unabashedly trying to advance its nuclear weapons delivery systems by testing ballistic missiles technology in clear violation of this council’s resolutions. This reckless unlawful behavior threatens all of the DPRK’s neighbors and all member states.” However, North Korea’s UN ambassador Kim Song brushed off critics as hypocrisy. He said no other nation in the world is in a security environment as critical as the DPRK. “One belligerent party, the United States, is threatening us with a nuclear weapon. It is legitimate right for the DPRK as another belligerent party to develop test, manufacture and possess weapons systems equivalent to those that the US possesses or is developing.”
