Pyongyang claims space-based surveillance is necessary to monitor ‘reckless’ US-South Korea military drills
North Korea revealed plans to launch the country’s first military spy satellite in response to escalating U.S. hostilities and expanded joint war games between Washington and Seoul.
“The worrisome security environment prevailing in the region due to dangerous military operations by the United States and its client forces requires that we make it our most urgent task to ensure reliable reconnaissance and information means capable of gathering information about enemy military operations in real time,” The state-run news agency KCNA quoted a senior North Korean official, Ri Byong Chol, as saying on Tuesday.
The new satellite is due to launch sometime in June to help boost North Korean military preparations “Dangerous Military Act” by the US and Korea, Ri said.Improved real-time monitoring will expose “Their reckless aggressive ambitions,” He added.
Ri blames U.S. and South Korean troops “become reckless,” They are said to be rehearsing for the invasion of North Korea, the largest ever joint exercise. He cited Washington’s deployment of a nuclear submarine off the Korean peninsula for the first time in decades and its pledge in April to give Seoul more say in the use of its nuclear weapons.He also claimed that the United States had recently conducted “Hostile Aerial Espionage” in the area.
Such scouting is “overheating military tensions” on the peninsula and show “The allied forces led by the United States have a sinister plan to implement pre-emptive military operations” Against North Korea, Ri said.Therefore, he said, Pyongyang will strengthen its “An all-encompassing and practical war deterrent.”
The statement came a day after North Korea notified Japan’s coast guard of its planned missile launches between May 31 and June 11.South Korean officials warned Monday that Pyongyang would pay “The price it deserves” If it goes ahead with satellite launches. “North Korea’s alleged satellite launch is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions banning launches using ballistic missile technology,” South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Lim Soo-sook told a news conference.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed in 2021 to develop a spy satellite, a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and a nuclear-powered submarine to bolster Pyongyang’s military capabilities. North Korea launched its first solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in April. The spy satellites could enhance Pyongyang’s ability to launch precision strikes on enemy targets in the event of war.
The two Koreas are still technically at war because their 1950-1953 conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
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