Politics

Pyongyang says latest test was also reconnaissance satellite development

Seoul, Mar 6 (EFE).- Pyongyang said Sunday that its previous day’s projectile launch was another “important test” to develop a reconnaissance satellite.

“The DPRK National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) and the Academy of Defence Science conducted another important test on Saturday under the plan of developing a reconnaissance satellite,” the state news agency KCNA reported.

“Through the test, the NADA confirmed the reliability of data transmission and reception system of the satellite, its control command system and various ground-based control systems,” the brief note added.

On this occasion, the information does not include photos of Earth’s surface taken from space, such as last week, when the regime said it launched a projectile to test the high-definition photography system and the data transmission system, among other things from the reconnaissance satellite that it claims to be developing.

Saturday’s launch was the North Korean regime’s ninth so far this year, a record number for the period.

The South Korean army estimated that a ballistic missile was fired from the vicinity of Sunan, the Pyongyang district where the airport is located, into the Sea of Japan, flying about 270 kilometers and reaching a maximum height of about 560 km.

Among the military assets that, during the single party congress in January 2021, leader Kim Jong-un announced that his country was going to develop were new reconnaissance satellites.

In addition to the interest in developing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, North Korea has shown continuous signs in recent years of wanting to resume space launches (the last one was in early 2016).

The regime put two reconnaissance satellites into orbit in 2012 and 2016, the devices Kwangmyongsong 3-2 and 4, but no one has so far managed to confirm any signals from the devices.

Both could be what is known as simulated satellites, which replicate weight and materials as a payload but are not functional due to the high probability of failure that a launch and orbital deployment operation present. EFE

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