North Korea Claims Its Spy Satellite Sent Back 'Detailed' Images Of White House And Pentagon

North Korea said its spy satellite has also photographed military installations in South Korea, as well as the US Pacific territory of Guam.

A TV news screen at Seoul's Yongsan Railway Station shows a report that North Korea's reconnaissance satellite, its third attempted launch this year, has entered orbit

Source : Getty

A week after the launch, North Korea has claimed that its first spy satellite on a global orbit has taken "detailed" photographs of the White House, the Pentagon and US nuclear aircraft carriers at the naval base of Norfolk. However, Pyongyang has not released any imagery so far, reported Reuters. The North also said its satellite took photos of military installations in South Korea, as well as the US Pacific territory of Guam and the state of Hawaii.

The Guardian said experts say it is too soon to determine if the Malligyong-1 spy satellite is functioning properly. North Korea's first reconnaissance satellite was launched on Nov 22, which said was designed to monitor US and South Korean military movements, according to a Reuters report.

The state-run KCNA news agency said on Tuesday that Kim Jong Un, who viewed the launch and later hosted a banquet for scientists and space programme workers, had viewed photos of the two US government sites, The Guardian reported. The images were taken late on Monday night.

The report further said the satellite also took photographs of a US naval base, a shipyard and an airfield in Virginia, KCNA said. The images contained four US nuclear aircraft carriers and a British aircraft carrier, it said.

The spy satellite sparked angry scenes at the UN Security Council on Monday. Notably, UN sanctions apply to North's satellites as they incorporate banned technology, The Guardian added.

"The DPRK has made its motivations clear...The DPRK is unabashedly trying to advance its nuclear weapons delivery systems by testing ballistic missile technology in clear violation of this council’s resolutions. This reckless unlawful behaviour threatens all of the DPRK’s neighbours and all member states," Washington’s ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the council.

Reacting to it, the North’s ambassador to the UN, Kim Song, said, "No other nation in the world is in a security environment as critical as the DPRK...One belligerent party, the United States, is threatening us with a nuclear weapon."

"It is a legitimate right for the DPRK as another belligerent party to develop, test, manufacture and possess weapons systems equivalent to those that the United States possesses or is developing," Kim added, as quoted by The Guardian.