N. Korea Set to Launch 'a Lot' of Spy Satellites

Kim Jong Un says North Korea will launch "a lot" of spy satellites to monitor military actions by the US and its allies, following condemnation of its recent missile launches. The leader, who made the announcement while inspecting the country's National Aerospace Development Administration on Thursday, said the goal was "to provide the armed forces of the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] with real-time information on military actions against it by the aggression troops of the US imperialism and its vassal forces in south Korea, Japan and the Pacific," so as to protect the country's sovereignty, the state's Korean Central News Agency reported, per Reuters.

Kim, who last oversaw a satellite launch in 2016, said the reconnaissance satellites would enter sun-synchronous orbit over the poles. This would allow them to observe particular locations at the same time each day and monitor changes over time. As Reuters notes, the launch "could prove as controversial as the nuclear-armed country's weapons tests because they use the same banned ballistic missile technology." Authorities in the US, South Korea, and Japan say ballistic missiles were launched as part of two tests of satellite systems on Feb. 27 and March 5. This follows a record number of missile launches in January. North Korea said one was an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of reaching Guam.

The US military said it increased surveillance and reconnaissance collection in the Yellow Sea and boosted its ballistic missile defense readiness in response, per Reuters. The US Directorate of National Intelligence has said the spate of launches could be a step toward North Korea's first test of a nuclear weapon or long-range intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 later this year. Recent satellite images show new construction at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear testing site for the first time since it was closed ahead of Kim's meeting with then-President Trump in 2018, the Guardian reports. (The launches are apparently paid for with stolen cryptocurrency.)