North Korea says spy satellite took photos of White House, Pentagon

SEOUL: North Korea on Tuesday said the country’s military spy satellite has taken photos of the White House and Pentagon in the US as well as nuclear aircraft carriers docked at a key American naval base.

Leader Kim Jong-un viewed the photos as he received an operations report from the Pyongyang General Control Center of the National Aerospace Technology Administration on Monday morning and at dawn Tuesday, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

He observed satellite photos of the White House and the Pentagon taken at 11.36 p.m. on Monday night, Yonhap News Agency quoted the KCNA as saying.

The spy satellite also took photos of Naval Station Norfolk, Newport News Shipyard and a Virginia airfield at 11.35 p.m. Monday. Four US Navy nuclear aircraft carriers and a British aircraft carrier were spotted in the photos, the KCNA said.

North Korea launched the Malligyong-1 spy satellite on a new type of Chollima-1 rocket on November 21 after two failed attempts in May and August, respectively. The country vowed to launch several more satellites within a short span of time. Since its launch, North Korea has claimed the satellite took photos of major military facilities in South Korea and the US territories of Guam and Hawaii. But the North has not released related satellite photos.

North Korea said Monday that a “fine-tuning” process on the satellite is under way and is one or two days ahead of schedule. The country earlier said the Malligyong-1 will begin its official mission onFriday.

South Korea’s military said it is closely monitoring whether the satellite is normally functioning, though it appears to have entered an orbit. (IANS)

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