North Korea’s Kim says satellite launch was exercise of right to self-defence

SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country’s recent

launch of a spy satellite

was an exercise of its right to self-defence, as Pyongyang celebrated the event as showing it could strike anywhere in the world, state media reported.

North Korea said on Nov 21 it had placed its first spy satellite in orbit, drawing international condemnation for violating United Nations resolutions that bar its use of technology applicable to ballistic missile programmes.

Mr Kim visited the National Aerospace Technology Administration (Nata) to applaud space scientists and technicians, and said the launch on Nov 21 was an “eye-opening event” in the face of the “dangerous and aggressive” moves of hostile forces, the state KCNA news agency reported.

“He said the possession of the reconnaissance satellite is a full-fledged exercise of the right to self-defence that the DPRK armed forces can neither concede even a bit nor stop, even for a moment,” KCNA said, using the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea hosted a reception to celebrate the launch on Nov 23, where Premier Kim Tok Hun said the satellite would develop the North Korean military into “the world’s best army possessed of capability for striking the whole world”.

State media photographs showed Mr Kim Jong Un’s family members joining the leader to celebrate the launch.

Mr Kim’s daughter sat next to him at the banquet wearing a T-shirt with Nata’s logo, along with his wife, sister, rocket scientists and engineers, state media photographs showed.

This week’s satellite launch was the North’s third attempt in 2023

after two failures

and followed

Mr Kim’s rare trip to Russia in September,

during which President Vladimir Putin vowed to help Pyongyang build satellites.

South Korean officials said the latest launch most likely involved Russian technical assistance under a growing partnership that has seen Pyongyang supply Russia with millions of artillery shells.

Russia and North Korea have denied arms deals but have promised deeper cooperation.

South Korea has said the North Korean satellite was believed to have entered orbit, but that it would take time to assess whether it was operating normally.
REUTERS