North Korea claims spy satellite photographed White House, Pentagon

Nov. 28 (UPI) -- North Korea said Tuesday that its new spy satellite, launched last week, has photographed U.S. government and military facilities including the White House and the Pentagon.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un received a briefing on the operation of the reconnaissance satellite and reviewed photos of locations including Naval Station Norfolk, the Newport News shipyard in Virginia, the White House and the Pentagon, state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

"Four U.S. Navy nuclear carriers and one British aircraft carrier were spotted in the photos," KCNA reported.

Kim also looked at pictures of Rome, Italy, and Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the report added.

State media has not released any photos taken by the satellite, and military analysts have questioned the resolution and quality of images it is capable of capturing.

Pyongyang said it successfully launched its home-grown Malligyong-1 reconnaissance satellite on Nov. 21. It marked the third attempt by the isolated regime to place a military spy satellite into orbit this year, after failures in May and August.

Over the weekend, state media reported that Kim had reviewed photos taken of military locations in South Korea as well as images of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which was docked in the southeastern port city of Busan.

The launch drew strong condemnations from Washington and Seoul, which scrapped part of a 2018 agreement that restricted military surveillance near the inter-Korean border.

North Korea responded by completely withdrawing from the agreement and announcing that it would restore "all military measures." Seoul's Defense Ministry said Monday that the North had begun rebuilding guard posts and bringing heavy firearms back to locations along the border.

South Korea, meanwhile, announced Tuesday that it is postponing the launch of its own reconnaissance satellite due to bad weather.

The launch had been scheduled for Thursday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara, California.

A Defense Ministry spokesman said that Saturday will be the replacement launch date. The satellite is the first of five that South Korea plans to send into orbit by 2025 in order to enhance surveillance of the North.