South Korea on Wednesday suspended part of a 2018 military agreement with North Korea after it defied warnings from the United States and launched a spy satellite.
The suspension of a clause in the agreement will see South Korea step up military surveillance along the heavily fortified border with the North.
North Korea said it placed its first spy satellite in orbit on Tuesday. Photographs in state media showed what appeared to be leader Kim Jong Un watching the fiery launch of a rocket from a base.
Kim was later briefed on the satellite’s operations at the control centre of the space agency in Pyongyang and viewed images taken above the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam of U.S. military installations, including the Andersen Air Force Base, the North’s KCNA news agency said.
Kim stressed the need for more reconnaissance satellites on different orbits to give his armed forces “abundant valuable real-time information about the enemy and further promote their responsive posture”, it said.
The satellite would begin its reconnaissance mission on Dec. 1, after adjustments, KCNA said.
South Korea’s military said North Korea’s military reconnaissance satellite was believed to have entered orbit, but it would take time to assess whether it was operating normally.
Earlier, the Pentagon said the U.S. military was assessing whether the launch was a success. U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson called the launch “a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions”.
