North Korea Claims New Spy Satellite Captured Images of White House and Pentagon
North Korea announced that its recently launched spy satellite has successfully captured images of the White House, Pentagon, and nearby US naval stations. This adds to the list of areas that North Korea claims to have photographed using its reconnaissance probe, which was sent into space last week. The country’s state media reported that leader Kim Jong Un has viewed these latest images, along with previous photos of Rome, Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, Pearl Harbor, and the US Navy’s Carl Vinson aircraft carrier.
Earlier this year, South Korea salvaged one of North Korea’s spy satellites following a failed launch and determined that the technology had limited military value. While Seoul believes that any North Korean satellite would be rudimentary at best, such technology could still assist Kim’s regime in improving its targeting capabilities as it continues to develop its nuclear strike capabilities.
North Korea had initially stated that the satellite would begin its reconnaissance mission on December 1 after some final adjustments. However, the Korean Central News Agency recently announced that the fine-tuning process is being accelerated, potentially allowing the mission to start one or two days earlier.
Despite these claims, there has been no independent confirmation regarding the operational status of the satellite. North Korea has also not released any images captured by the new satellite to the outside world.
It is worth noting that North Korea has a history of making exaggerated claims about its satellite capabilities. During the leadership of Kim Jong Il, the father of the current leader, the country had announced the successful placement of a satellite into orbit that supposedly played revolutionary songs. However, the United States later revealed that the probe was likely at the bottom of the sea.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
