SEOUL: North Korea plans to launch three extra spy satellites in 2024 as a part of efforts to ramp up its army, state media reported on Sunday (Dec 31).
Pyongyang efficiently put a spy satellite tv for pc into orbit final month and has since claimed it was offering pictures of main United States and South Korean army websites.
This 12 months, it additionally performed a record-breaking variety of weapons checks, together with the launch this month of its strongest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), blaming rising threats from the USA.
“The duty of launching three further reconnaissance satellites in 2024 was declared” as one of many key coverage selections for subsequent 12 months at a year-end occasion assembly, the official Korean Central Information Company (KCNA) mentioned.
The five-day assembly, which ended on Saturday, was attended by North Korean chief Kim Jong Un.
“The USA, which has lengthy brought on and worsened political instability on the Korean peninsula, continues to pose varied kinds of army menace to our nation even because the 12 months is coming to an finish,” Kim mentioned.
Seoul, Tokyo and Washington have ramped up defence cooperation within the face of rising missile and nuclear threats from Pyongyang this 12 months and just lately activated a system to share real-time knowledge on North Korean missile launches.
Earlier this month, a US nuclear-powered submarine arrived within the South Korean port metropolis of Busan, and Washington flew its long-range bombers in drills with Seoul and Tokyo.
The North has beforehand described the deployment of Washington’s strategic weapons – reminiscent of B-52 bombers – in joint drills on the Korean peninsula as “intentional nuclear conflict provocative strikes”.
Kim ordered his nation’s Korean Individuals’s Military to intently monitor the safety state of affairs on the peninsula and to “all the time reply with an awesome angle”.
“We should reply rapidly to a attainable nuclear disaster and proceed to speed up preparations to pacify the complete territory of South Korea by mobilising all bodily means and forces, together with nuclear drive, in case of emergency,” he mentioned.
