North says spy satellite finished and awaiting launch

North Korea has finished its first military reconnaissance satellite and is preparing to launch it into space, leader Kim Jong-un was quoted as saying by Pyongyang's state media Wednesday.

Footage released by the North's state-controlled Korean Central Television shows leader Kim Jong-un pointing toward a screen display of the regime's planned reconnaissance satellite. [YONHAP]

North Korea has finished its first military reconnaissance satellite and is preparing to launch it into space, leader Kim Jong-un was quoted as saying by Pyongyang's state media Wednesday.

Kim's remarks came four months after the regime said it launched a test satellite and that it aims to launch its first operational reconnaissance satellite into orbit by this month.

The North Korean leader made the comments during a Tuesday inspection of the North's space development agency, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim ordered final preparations be sped up to ensure that his regime's military reconnaissance satellite will be launched at the scheduled date within this month in order to "firmly establish satellite intelligence-gathering capability" and to pave the way for the deployment of "several reconnaissance satellites in different orbits in succession in the future," the KCNA said.

The state news agency also said that Kim believes the reconnaissance satellite is the "most crucial primary task" for the North to strengthen its military capabilities against South Korea and the United States.

During the visit, which marked Kim's first visit to the agency since March last year, the North Korean leader justified the possession of the reconnaissance satellite as a means of "self-defense" that can "never be abandoned" and is the "sovereign and legitimate right" of his regime.

Photos of Kim's visit to the space agency showed a screen display of the satellite and the presence of his daughter Kim Ju-ae during his inspection.

Kim also ordered the agency to develop "standardized and reliable carrier rockets" for the satellite.

A spy satellite has long been on the North Korean leader's wish list of sophisticated military assets, having been first mentioned during his speech at the eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party held in January 2021.

Other items on Kim's wish list included "miniaturized and tactical" nuclear weapons, "super-large hydrogen bombs," mid-to-long range cruise missiles, anti-aircraft rocket systems, heavy tanks, howitzers, multiple-warhead missiles, new types of ballistic missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and "hypersonic gliding flight warheads."

At the meeting, Kim said it would be "foolish and dangerous" not to pursue the development of such weapons while "the number of the enemy's advanced weapons targeting the nation is increasing."

In a sign that the regime was close to developing a working spy satellite, Pyongyang's state media released blurry, bird's-eye view photographs of Seoul and neighboring Incheon after what the regime called an "important final-stage" satellite test in December last year.

Although South Korean defense analysts said the low-resolution images demonstrated the shortcomings of North Korean reconnaissance technology, the North Korean leader's sister Kim Yo-jong claimed the images came from a "test-use camera," suggesting the choice of a less advanced device on that satellite was deliberate.

Although North Korea previously claimed to have launched "earth observation satellites" into orbit in 2012 and 2016, it never provided evidence that either satellite succeeded in transmitting images.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]