North Korea has said its first spy satellite has captured "detailed" photographs of the White House, the Pentagon and U.S. nuclear aircraft carriers.
The images were taken by the the country's Malligyong-1 reconnaissance satellite late on Monday night and were viewed by North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, the state-run KCNA news agency said Tuesday.
A U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson told Newsweek: "We cannot confirm the accuracy of this claim."
Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea escalated when Pyongyang said it successfully launched the spy satellite last week. The launch has been condemned by Washington and its allies, and the United Nations said North Korea had used ballistic missile technology, which is "contrary to the relevant Security Council resolutions."
Pyongyang says the satellite was designed to monitor U.S. and South Korean troop movements. Kim has described it as a "space guard."
The reconnaissance satellite also captured images of an airfield in Virginia, a U.S. naval base, and a shipyard, KCNA said. State media has also reported that the satellite photographed cities and military bases in South Korea, Guam and Italy.
None of the purported images have been released by Pyongyang.
South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Jeon Ha-kyu told reporters at a press briefing in Seoul on Tuesday that the satellite is likely able to take photographs, but it's not yet clear if the images it may have captured would be clear enough to be of military value.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement on November 21 that Washington "strongly condemns" North Korea for launching "a space launch vehicle (SLV) using ballistic missile technology, which is a brazen violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions, raises tensions, and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond."
"This space launch involved technologies that are directly related to the DPRK intercontinental ballistic missile program," Watson said, using North Korea's formal name.
Seoul's top spy agency, the National Intelligence Agency, has assessed that Pyongyang's satellite technology and know-how may have been acquired from Russia, Newsweek previously reported.
Kim and his Russian President Vladimir Putin met in September. After their meeting, Putin said that Russia could help North Korea build satellites, telling reporters that Kim shows a "great interest" in rockets.
"That's exactly why we came here," said Putin when asked by reporters if he would assist Pyongyang with developing its space and satellite program.
The two leaders denied striking an arms deal during their meeting in September. Russia would be violating international sanctions should it provide North Korea with technology to build satellites.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.
Update 11/29/23, 4:05 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from the Pentagon.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
