North Korea Says It Has Taken Spy Photos of White House and Pentagon with New Satellite
Peek-a-boo. Kim Jong Un sees you!
That’s the message North Korea sent the world on Tuesday, days after it launched its first spy satellite to monitor U.S. and South Korean military activities, according to Reuters.
North Korean state media said Kim looked at images of the White House, Pentagon, and Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, as well as a U.S. shipyard and airbase in Norfolk and Newport in Virginia.
According to the state-run KCNA news agency, the images, which were taken late Monday night, included four U.S. nuclear aircraft carriers and a British aircraft carrier, according to The Guardian.
Reuters reported that these photos were the latest in a series of pictures from “major target regions,” according to KCNA.
Some mocked the release.
North Korea satellite takes picture of the White House and Rome because google maps isn’t available there 🤣 🤣 🤣 pic.twitter.com/xDAjW2xgtX
— Luffy D. Fella ❁ (@LuffyDFella) November 28, 2023
Remember when you got that toy you always wanted at Xmas and were so excited you wanted to tell everyone about it? https://t.co/DX4PoXPIZw
— Chad O’Carroll (@chadocl) November 27, 2023
“Remember when you got that toy you always wanted at Xmas and were so excited you wanted to tell everyone about it?” Chad O’Carroll, founder of the North Korea-focused website NK News, said in a post on X.
The images have not been released.
Dave Schmerler, a satellite imagery expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said having images is one thing, whether they are worth much is another.
“How useful those images are depends on what they want to use them for,” he said.
“It’s a big leap for them going from zero to something, but until we can see the images they’re collecting, we’re speculating on its use cases,” he said.
The satellite launched some sparring at the United Nations.
“The DPRK has made its motivations clear,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, according to the Guardian, using the official name of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“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 behavior threatens all of the DPRK’s neighbors and all member states.”
North Korean Ambassador Kim Song defended his nation, according to Reuters.
“One belligerent party, the United States, is threatening us with a nuclear weapon,” Kim told the council.
“It is legitimate right for the DPRK — as another belligerent party — to develop, test, manufacture and possess weapons systems equivalent to those that the United States already possess and, or (are) developing right now,” he said.
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