When North Korea launched a reconnaissance satellite into space on November 21, alarm bells rang in Seoul, Tokyo and Washington. North Korea’s first reconnaissance probe is designed to monitor U.S. and South Korean military movements and, some analysts say, to more effectively target South Korea and Japan or conduct damage assessments during a possible war. A few days after the launch, Pyongyang’s propaganda claimed that Kim Jong Un’s jewel was taking and transmitting photos of sensitive sites.
What did Kim’s spy satellite see?
Cities and military bases in South Korea, Guam and Italy, as well as the US capital, were photographed as part of the investigation on November 25, North Korean state news agency KCNA reported. The reconnaissance satellite’s targets included the White House, the Pentagon, the US military air base Anderson in Guam in the Pacific, the Norfolk naval station, the Newport News naval shipyard in Virginia, and “four US Navy nuclear aircraft carriers” were sighted. and a British aircraft carrier.” The probe did not forget to take a photo of Rome.
But there are many doubts. Beyond the statements of the Pyongyang regime news agency, North Korea has not yet released any images taken from its new satellite. Seoul and Tokyo confirmed that the probe entered orbit correctly but reserve the right to continue evaluating whether it actually worked as Pyongyang claims. South Korea believes that any North Korean satellite would be rudimentary at best, but this satellite undoubtedly represents a technological advance by the Kim regime to improve North Korea’s ability to launch a nuclear attack.
South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Jeon Ha-kyu said the probe was certainly capable of taking photographs, but in-depth analysis was needed to see whether the images captured were of high enough resolution to have military value. But Dave Schmerler, a satellite imagery expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, says there would be no reason to doubt that even a medium-resolution camera could offer Pyongyang this capability, as a North Korean satellite could see large areas or warships. (CNS). What Kim wants to do with these images is fear. Because KCNA identified North Korea’s “main target areas” in the photo series taken by the spy satellite.
Russian aid
Pyongyang seems determined to send more spy probes into space. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said last week’s launch of a reconnaissance satellite was motivated by the need to monitor the United States and its allies, and so other launches would follow. North Korea’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Kim Song, also repeated his words: “The United States, a belligerent, threatens us with nuclear weapons. It is legitimate for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – as another belligerent – to develop and test nuclear weapons. The United States is currently “It produces and maintains weapon systems equivalent to the weapon systems it has or is currently developing.” The defense of the Pyongyang ambassador came after concerns raised by Japan, South Korea and the United States about violations of UN Security Council resolutions on satellite launches.
The discovery of Kim’s jewel in orbit shows how Pyongyang has been able to evade United Nations sanctions over its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development programs, possibly with the help of Russia, another internationally isolated regime. South Korea’s spy agency believes that following the summit between Kim Jong-un and President Vladimir Putin, Moscow offered Pyongyang technological assistance to develop satellites in exchange for military assistance for the war in Ukraine.
The launch of the spy investigation prompted South Korea to suspend a key provision of the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement and resume aerial surveillance along the 38th parallel. For Pyongyang, the Comprehensive Military Agreement signed during Moon Jae-in’s leadership of South Korea is waste paper. Kim announced that he would begin redeploying weapons to the Demilitarized Zone border.
Just yesterday, on November 27, Seoul noted that troops and guard posts removed after the 2018 agreement had reappeared in the buffer zone between the two Koreas.
South Korea estimates that the North has about 160 security outposts along the DMZ, while the South has 60. Pyongyang and Seoul respectively demolished 11 outposts following a military agreement signed five years ago aimed at easing tensions and preventing accidental military clashes. Tensions rise following the launch of the spy probe.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
