North Korea will launch its first military satellite to spy on the U.S. and its allies in June, state media outlet KCNA reported on Tuesday, citing a top North Korean defense official.
Recent U.S.-South Korea military exercises aimed at “annihilating” a belligerent adversary, in addition to deepening U.S. security cooperation agreements with Pacific nations, troop deployments and “hostile” U.S. spying, requires North Korea to develop stronger reconnaissance capabilities, Ri Pyong Chol, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said in a statement carried by KCNA. The planned satellite launch — the first of its kind — is intended to assist Pyongyang in tracking and responding to “dangerous military acts of the U.S. and its vassal forces,” he added.