North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the launch of North Korea's first military reconnaissance spy satellite, the construction of which has just been completed, the state news agency reported on Wednesday (April 19th).
During a visit by the North Korean space agency, Kim Jong-un demanded "
that the first military reconnaissance spy satellite (of North Korea), completed in April, be launched on the scheduled date
", according to the official KCNA news agency.
The North Korean leader, who inspected the National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) with his daughter, however, did not give more details on the launch date.
Addressing the staff of the space agency, he called for the deployment of "
several reconnaissance satellites in different orbits
".
Acquiring military reconnaissance technology is "
an essential task to accomplish
", Kim Jong-un stressed, to counter what he described as threats and aggression from Seoul and Washington.
A spy satellite
The statement comes days after Pyongyang said it had successfully launched its new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a major step forward for North Korea's weapons program.
Read alsoNorth Korea fires a “new type” of ballistic missile, an alert has been triggered in Japan
In December 2022, North Korea said it had conducted an "
important final test
" in the development of a spy satellite.
Assertions immediately called into question by experts who had asserted that the quality of the images, supposed to have been taken from a satellite, was poor.
The development of a military reconnaissance spy satellite was already one of the major projects of the North Korean defense program presented by Kim Jong-un in 2021.
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