North Korea claims new spy satellite gathered White House, Pentagon images
Global News
So far, Pyongyang has not released any imagery, leaving analysts and foreign governments to debate how capable the new satellite actually is.
After decades of satellite surveillance by foreign governments and analysts, North Korea has sent its first spy satellite on a global orbit with a message to the world: we can watch you too.
On Tuesday North Korean state media said leader Kim Jong Un had reviewed spy satellite photos of the White House, Pentagon and U.S. aircraft carriers at the naval base of Norfolk.
North Korea last week successfully launched its first reconnaissance satellite, which it has said was designed to monitor U.S. and South Korean military movements.
Since then state media has reported the satellite photographed cities and military bases in South Korea, Guam, and Italy, in addition to Washington.
“Remember when you got that toy you always wanted at Xmas and were so excited you wanted to tell everyone about it?” Chad O’Carroll, founder of the North Korea-focused website NK News, said of the KCNA reports in a post on X.
So far, Pyongyang has not released any imagery, leaving analysts and foreign governments to debate how capable the new satellite actually is.
South Korea, which said on Tuesday the Nov. 30 launch date for its own first spy satellite on a U.S. Falcon 9 rocket would be delayed by weather, has said the North’s satellite capabilities could not be verified.
In Washington, the Pentagon said North Korea’s satellite did enter orbit but did not comment on Pyongyang’s claims about the images it had captured.