North Korea Says Military Satellite Key to Countering US 'Space Militarization'
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – North Korea's spy satellite program is an "indispensable" measure to counter US space militarization aimed at beefing up the United States' preemptive nuclear strike capability and securing "world supremacy," state media KCNA said on Tuesday.
Ri Song Jin, a researcher of the National Aerospace Technology Administration, accused the United States of seeking greater military hegemony in Asia by expanding its space force in an article titled "US space force deployment aimed at preemptive aggression war", Reuters reported.
Ri singled out a recent trip by the US Space Force commander to Tokyo, and the deployment of a Space Force component in South Korea, where its members took part in joint military drills for the first time this year.
Such moves were "nothing but a camouflaged curtain to cover up the scenario for preemptive attack on the anti-US and independent countries," Ri said, mentioning North Korea, China and Russia.
"Now that the US is getting hell-bent on space militarization with a preemptive nuclear attack as its ultimate target by massively introducing space force into the Korean peninsula and its vicinity," Ri said, "space development, including a military reconnaissance satellite, is an indispensable strategic option for guaranteeing the security interests and right to existence of the DPRK."
DPRK is the initials of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea has failed twice to place a spy satellite in orbit, both in May and August, and has vowed to try again as early as October.
Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured Russia's most modern space launch center, where President Vladimir Putin promised to help him build satellites.
