SEOUL – North Korea said it had carried out a test of “great significance” for developing a reconnaissance satellite, state media reported today, a day after Seoul said it had detected a ballistic missile launch.
Despite sweeping international sanctions, Pyongyang carried out a record-breaking blitz of weapons tests in January before pausing launches during the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Yesterday South Korea’s military said it had detected the launch of a ballistic missile, with Yonhap later reporting it could have been fired from a mobile launcher at a steep angle, possibly indicating a medium-range ballistic missile.
But North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said government agencies had conducted a test “of great significance in developing the reconnaissance satellite” yesterday.
KCNA said the test helped “confirm the characteristics and working accuracy of a high definition photographing system, data transmission system, and attitude control devices”.
That included “conducting vertical and oblique photographing of a specific area on earth with cameras to be loaded on the reconnaissance satellite”, KCNA added.
Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, carried two photographs that appeared to show the Korean peninsula seen from space.
The development of a military reconnaissance satellite – along with the recently tested hypersonic weapons – is one of the key defence projects listed by leader Kim Jong-un last year.
Analysts say developing such a satellite would provide the North with cover for testing banned intercontinental ballistic missiles, as long-range rockets share the same technology. – AFP, February 28, 2022
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