INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
North Korea will launch a number of reconnaissance satellites in coming years to provide real-time information on military actions by the
United States and its allies, state media on Thursday reported leader Kim Jong Un as saying.While inspecting North Korea&s National
Aerospace Development Administration, Kim said &a lot& of military reconnaissance satellites would be put into sun-synchronous polar orbit
in the period of a five-year plan announced last year, state news agency KCNA reported.&He noted that the purpose of developing and
operating the military reconnaissance satellite is to provide the armed forces of the DPRK with real-time information on military actions
against it by the aggression troops of the U.S
imperialism and its vassal forces in south Korea, Japan and the Pacific,& the news agency said.North Korea appears to be preparing to launch
a reconnaissance satellite, which could prove as controversial as the nuclear-armed country&s weapons tests because they use the same banned
ballistic missile technology, experts say.North Korea says it conducted two tests of satellite systems on Feb
Authorities in South Korea, Japan, and the United States says the tests involved launches of ballistic missiles.The launches drew
international condemnation and the U.S
military said on Thursday it had increased surveillance and reconnaissance collection in the Yellow Sea.The United States also said it had
heightened its ballistic missile defence readiness after a &significant increase& in North Korean missile tests.Kim defended the satellite
work as not only about gathering information but protecting North Korea&s sovereignty and national interests, exercising its legitimate
rights to self-defence, and elevating national prestige, KCNA reported.&He stressed that this urgent project for perfecting the country&s
war preparedness capacity by improving our state&s war deterrent is the supreme revolutionary task, a political and military priority task
to which our Party and government attach the most importance,& KCNA said.The United States and its allies have condemned previous North
Korean space launches as violations of U.N
Security Council resolutions that have imposed sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programmes.North Korea has not tested a
nuclear weapon or its long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) since 2017, but has suggested in could resume such tests
because talks with the United States are stalled.Its latest flurry of missile launches could be groundwork for a return to ICBM and nuclear
bomb tests this year, the U.S
Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI) said in its annual Worldwide Threat Assessment released this week.A satellite launched into orbit
would be the first since 2016.Recent sub-orbital launches, which likely used road-mobile medium-range ballistic missiles, appeared designed
to &pop the key components of an imagery reconnaissance satellite up to operational altitudes for a few minutes of testing&, 38 North, a
U.S.-based monitoring group, said in a report.Such components, including satellite stabilisation, the imaging payload, and data transmission
may have failed in previous tests and therefore required additional testing, the group said.&It remains to be seen how capable any North
Korean imagery satellite would be, the frequency of launches, or how many such satellites might be maintained in orbit at any one time—all
key indicators of the actual military significance of such satellites,& 38 North said.Regardless, North Korea clearly sees this capability
as having propaganda value and showcasing its technological prowess and effective leadership, it added.A launch could make technical
contributions to North Korea&s ICBM capability, depending on what type of rocket booster is used, 38 North said.&It may also be the
precursor to other more provocative developments mentioned by Kim, such as the testing of multiple-warhead missiles, solid-propellant ICBMs,
and ICBM-range solid-propellant submarine-launched ballistic missiles,& it said.The post North Korea to launch satellites to monitor U.S
and its allies first appeared on Ariana News.
