North claims space images were reconnaissance satellite test

Pyongyang's state-controlled Rodong Sinmun carried black-and-white photos of Incheon, left, and Seoul, right, which the regime said were taken from a test satellite launched on Sunday. [NEWS1]

North Korea said Monday that it launched a test satellite the previous day as part of a final test for the development of the regime's first reconnaissance satellite.

The report by Pyongyang’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) was accompanied by low-resolution black-and-white photos showing a view from space of Seoul and Incheon, which the agency said was taken by the test satellite.

According to the KCNA, the regime’s National Aerospace Development Administration called the test results “an important success in the final preparations for the launch of a reconnaissance satellite,” adding that the test marked the completion of preparations for the launch of the regime’s first military reconnaissance satellite by April next year.

South Korea, Japan and the United States said Sunday that they had detected a pair of medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM) launches by North Korea from Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province, where the North’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground is located.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said the missiles peaked at an altitude of 550 kilometers (342 miles) and flew approximately 250 kilometers before splashing down outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Gyu Geon-ha told reporters Monday that the South Korean and U.S. assessments that North Korea fired the two MRBMs remain unchanged. He said South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were analyzing the launches, but declined to elaborate.

At the eighth congress of the ruling Workers’ Party held in January 2021, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un mentioned a spy satellite as one of several sophisticated military assets sought by his regime.

Other items on Kim’s wish list included “miniaturized and tactical” nuclear weapons, “super-large hydrogen bombs,” mid-to-long range cruise missiles, anti-aircraft rocket systems, heavy tanks, howitzers, multiple-warhead missiles, new types of ballistic missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and “hypersonic gliding flight warheads.”

At the meeting, Kim claimed it would “foolish and dangerous” not to pursue the development of such weapons while “the number of the enemy’s advanced weapons targeting the nation is increasing.”

While Pyongyang has fired 65 missiles this past year, it said in February and March that it launched test satellites to check camera and data transmission systems.

Last month, it tested its largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) yet, the Hwasong-17. On Thursday, the regime said it tested a “high-thrust solid-fuel motor” that day. The state media lauded it as a significant milestone “for the development of another new-type strategic weapon system.”

Although North Korea previously claimed to have launched “earth observation satellites” into orbit in 2012 and 2016, it never provided evidence that either satellite succeeded in transmitting any images.

According to the KCNA, one of the cameras tested Sunday has a 20-meter (65-feet) resolution, which Jang Young-geun, a professor at the Korea Aerospace University, called “relatively low” for a military-purpose satellite in an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo.

“Typically, military reconnaissance satellites have a 0.5-meter resolution,” Jang said, but noted that it may be possible to obtain a more detailed image if three cameras are installed and their optical devices are shared.

A foreign policy expert who spoke on condition of anonymity with the JoongAng Ilbo said that the images of Seoul and Incheon released by the KCNA was North Korea’s way of signaling their advancing surveillance capabilities to South Korea and the United States.

“They are trying to say, ‘We, too, are looking down at Seoul,’ in the same way that South Korea and the United States pressure the North by revealing detailed information and images of the regime’s activities, which were gathered through advanced intelligence assets,” the expert said.

Lee Chun-geun, an honorary fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, said the latest test satellite launch highlighted troubling technological cooperation between Pyongyang and Beijing.

“Operating a reconnaissance satellite requires not only constant management from the ground, but also highly advanced positioning techniques when focusing on a key target,” Lee said.

“Considering how difficult it is to obtain such technology and equipment, it is likely the North received technical assistance from China or others.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]