Seoul: State media reported on Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un claimed his nation had built its first-ever military spy satellite and planned to launch it at an unknown time.

North Korea has demonstrated its ability to launch satellites into orbit through previous missile and rocket tests, but many experts doubt whether it has cameras advanced enough to be used for satellite spying because only low-resolution images were made available following previous test launches.

Kim stated that having a functioning military reconnaissance satellite is essential for North Korea to effectively use its nuclear-capable missiles during his visit to the nation's aerospace agency on Tuesday. 

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According to the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim cited what he called serious security threats posed by "the most hostile rhetoric and explicit action" by the United States and South Korea this year. He probably wants to exert pressure on his opponents over things like joint military exercises and global economic sanctions against North Korea.

Kim proclaimed that "the military reconnaissance satellite No. 1" had already been constructed and gave the go-ahead for officials to hasten launch preparations. According to him, North Korea needs to launch numerous satellites in order to develop its capacity for intelligence gathering, according to KCNA.

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In response to recent joint military drills between the US and its regional allies South Korea and Japan, North Korea has said its ongoing series of weapons tests, including last week's test launch of its first intercontinental ballistic missile with solid fuel intended to strike the US mainland, are being carried out. Since the beginning of last year, North Korea has conducted about 100 missile tests, including about 30 this year.

In response to North Korea's increasing nuclear threats, the US and South Korean militaries have increased their joint training exercises. In addition to a one-day naval missile defence exercise with Japan, the allies this week began a 12-day aerial exercise involving about 110 warplanes.

During a significant Workers' Party conference in January 2021, Kim publicly pledged to develop a number of significant weapons systems, including spy satellites. Kim also promised to develop nuclear-powered submarines, hypersonic missiles, multi-warhead missiles, and ICBMs with solid propellants. Since then, North Korea has tested these weapons, but outside observers claim that these cutting-edge weapons are still in the early stages of development.

North Korea published black-and-white images of South Korean cities taken from space after it launched a test satellite in December. At the time, some civilian experts in South Korea opined that the images were too rudimentary to be used for surveillance and that it was likely only possible to identify large targets like naval warships or on-land military installations.

Kim Yo Jong, Kim's sister and a senior North Korean official, stated that the test satellite used a commercial camera rather than an expensive, high-resolution camera because there was no need to use such a costly camera for a single shot test.

One of the goals for its spy satellite, according to Kim Jong Un, is to be able to "use pre-emptive military force when the situation demands."
In the recent months, US military assets like aircraft carriers and long-range bombers have been stationed in South Korea. However, no mention was made of potential targets in the US mainland in Tuesday's KCNA dispatch. This may suggest that North Korea plans to use its reconnaissance satellites to locate important South Korean targets, such as US military installations, in order to launch a short-range missile attack.

Using a long-range rocket would be necessary to launch a reconnaissance satellite into orbit. Because the UN sees such launches by North Korea as a cover for testing its long-range ballistic missile technology, it forbids them.

The North's launch of a spy satellite, according to South Korea's Foreign Ministry, would violate numerous UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting any ballistic launches by the North and pose a threat to regional peace. In order to make North Korea pay for its provocations, it was stated that South Korea would closely cooperate with the international community.

In 2012 and 2016, North Korea launched its first and second Earth observation satellites, but according to outside experts, neither one returned images to the country. Regarding those launches, the UN imposed sanctions.

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Because permanent members of the UN Security Council Russia and China disagreed with US and other efforts to impose more severe sanctions on North Korea, the country has escaped new UN sanctions for its recent ballistic missile tests in 2022 and this year.