North Korea shows off images of Seoul from above after testing ‘new spy satellite’

Expert says resolution of images ‘does not appear to be so impressive for military reconnaissance’

North Korea has released satellite pictures of two South Korean cities after a test launch as part of an “important, final phase” of its first spy satellite.

The spy satellite took pictures of Seoul and Incheon, a city just west of South Korea’s capital, which were released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday.

The black and white space view of the key South Korean cities along with a photo of the satellite launch was released as an apparent attempt by Pyongyang to show it is pushing to acquire a surveillance tool to monitor its rival.

The rocket carrying the test satellite was launched at an altitude of 500km on Sunday to assess its photography and data transmission systems, according to KCNA.

It carried multiple cameras, image transmitters and receivers, a control device and a storage battery, the news agency reported.

The spy satellite programme is expected to be complete by April 2023.

North Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration called the test results “an important success which has gone through the final gateway process of the launch of reconnaissance satellite”.

An expert, however, said the images do not show an impressive progress of the spying programme that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has started along with other high-tech weapons systems.

“From the images released, the resolution does not appear to be so impressive for military reconnaissance,” said Soo Kim, a security analyst at the California-based RAND Corporation.

Supposed images from the reconnaissance satellite (Reuters)

“I’d note, however, that this is probably an ongoing development, so we may see more improvements to North Korea‘s military reconnaissance capabilities over time.”

Authorities from South Korea, Japan and the US said they had detected a pair of ballistic missile launches by North Korea from its northwestern Tongchang-ri area, where the North‘s satellite launch pad is located.

An emergency meeting was held in Seoul after the launch where the South Korean government denounced the move as a provocation despite “the plight of its citizens moaning in hunger and cold due to a serious food shortage”.

South Korea said in response that it will boost a trilateral security cooperation with the US and Japan.

Additional reporting by agencies