SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed again Sunday to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as she criticized a UN Security Council meeting for the North’s first failed launch. .
North Korea’s attempt to put its first military spy satellite into orbit last wednesday failed when his rocket crashed off the west coast of the Korean peninsula. An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was still called at the request of the US, Japan and other countries to discuss the launch because it had violated council resolutions prohibiting the North from launching using ballistic technology.
On Sunday, Kim’s sister and senior ruling party official, Kim Yo Jong, called the UN council “a political appendage” of the United States, saying their recent meeting was called following a “gangster request” from USA.
He accused the UN council of being “discriminatory and rude” because it only opposes satellite launches from the North, while thousands of satellites launched by other countries are already operating in space. He said his country’s attempt to acquire a spy satellite is a legitimate step in responding to military threats posed by the United States and its allies.
“(North Korea) will continue to take proactive steps to exercise all legal rights of a sovereign state, including launching a military reconnaissance satellite,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media.
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In his earlier statement on Friday, Kim Yo Jong said North Korea’s spy satellite “will be successfully put into space orbit in the near future,” but did not say when its second launch attempt would take place.
South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Wednesday that it would likely take “more than several weeks” for North Korea to learn the cause of the failed launch, but it could attempt a second launch soon if the flaws are not serious. .
A military surveillance satellite is among a list of sophisticated weapons systems Kim Jong Un has vowed to acquire amid protracted security tensions with the United States. Since early 2022, Kim has carried out more than 100 missile tests in what he called a warning about expanded military exercises between the United States and South Korea.
Experts say Kim would want to use his modernized weapons arsenal to extract concessions from Washington and its partners in future diplomacy.
North Korea has received rounds of UN sanctions for its past nuclear and missile tests and satellite launches. But the UN Security Council did not tighten those sanctions over North Korea’s recent testing activities because China and Russia, both permanent members of the UN council, blocked attempts by the United States and others to do so. during the last UN council session on FridayChina and Russia clashed with the United States again over the failed launch of the North.
After repeated failures, North Korea launched Earth-observing satellites into orbit in 2012 and 2016, but foreign experts say there is no evidence that any of the satellites transmitted images and other data.
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