She criticized a U.N. Security Council session over North Korea’s failed first launch.
Last Wednesday, the North failed to launch its first spy satellite after its rocket crashed near the western coast of the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. and Japan requested an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss this launch, as it violated resolutions of the council that prohibited the North from using ballistic technology.
Kim Yo Jong (a senior official in the ruling party and Kim’s sister) called the U.N. Council “a political appendage of the United States” on Sunday. She said that its recent meeting had been convened after America’s “gangsterlike request.”
She called the U.N. Council “discriminatory and rude” for only criticizing the North’s launches of satellites, while thousands of satellites from other countries already operate in space. She argued that her country’s effort to acquire a spy-satellite is a legitimate response to the military threats from the U.S.
Kim Yo Jong, in a state-run media statement, said that “North Korea will continue to take proactive steps to exercise all of the lawful rights a sovereign nation has to launch a military surveillance satellite.”
Kim Yo Jong, in a statement on Friday, said that the spy satellite of the North “will be placed correctly into space orbit very soon” but did not specify when the second launch attempt will take place.
South Korea’s spy service told lawmakers on Wednesday that it would take North Korea “more than a few weeks” to determine the reason for the failure of the launch. However, if the defects are not serious, it could attempt a new launch in the near future.
Washington, Seoul and other countries criticized North Korea’s launch of a satellite for raising tensions in the international community and encouraged it to return to negotiations.
Kim Jong Un, amid persistent security tensions between the United States and North Korea, has pledged to purchase a military surveillance satellite. Kim Jong Un has conducted more than 100 tests of missiles since the beginning of 2022 in an effort to warn the U.S. about the expansion of military exercises between South Korea and the U.S.
Experts believe Kim will use his arsenal of modernized weapons to extract concessions from Washington, its allies and other countries in the future.
North Korea has been subjected to a series of U.N. sanction measures for its previous nuclear tests, missile launches and satellite launches. The U.N. Security Council did not increase sanctions against North Korea for its recent testing because China and Russia, who are both permanent members of U.N. Council, prevented the U.S. from doing so. China and Russia clashed again with the U.S. at the U.N. Council’s latest session on Friday over the North Korean launch failure.
North Korea launched Earth-observation Satellites in orbit between 2012 and 2016 after repeated failures. However, foreign experts claim that there is no evidence to suggest either satellite transmitted images or other data.
North Korea also threatened Sunday not to inform the International Maritime Organization in advance of any future satellite launches to protest against the group’s criticism of North Korean missile testing.
The IMO’s maritime safety panel adopted a rare, but important resolution on Wednesday that denounced North Korea’s conduct of launches without proper notice which “seriously threatens the safety and security of seafarers as well as international shipping.”
Kim Myong Chol is an international affairs analyst from North Korea. In a statement published by the state media, he said: “In future, IMO will know the exact time of the launch of the satellite (North Korea) and the point at which it impacts the carrier, and they should be prepared to accept full responsibility for any consequences.”
North Korea informed the IMO and Japan, ahead of its recent spy-satellite launch, that a launch was scheduled between May 31 and Juni 11.
