SEOUL, South Korea, 1 Jun: The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday accused the United States of \u201cgangster-like\u201d hypocrisy for criticizing her country\u2019s failed launch of a military spy satellite and insisted a successful launch will be made soon.
\nKim Yo Jong said North Korea\u2019s efforts to acquire space-based reconnaissance capabilities were a legitimate exercise of its sovereign right and restated the country\u2019s rejection of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban it from conducting any launch involving ballistic missile technology.
\nHer comments on state media came a day after the rocket carrying the satellite failed. North Korea said the rocket lost thrust after a stage separation and crashed in waters off the Korean Peninsula\u2019s western coast.
\nWashington, South Korea and Japan had quickly criticized the launch. Adam Hodge, a spokesperson at the U.S. National Security Council, said Washington strongly condemns the North Korean launch because it used banned ballistic missile technology, raised tensions and risked destabilizing security in the region and beyond.
\nIn her statement, Kim Yo Jong briefly mentioned Hodge\u2019s comments before saying the United States \u201cis letting loose a hackneyed gibberish prompted by its brigandish and abnormal thinking.\u201d
\n\u201cIf the DPRK\u2019s satellite launch should be particularly censured, the U.S. and all other countries, which have already launched thousands of satellites, should be denounced. AP<\/p>\n
This is nothing but sophism of self-contradiction,\u201d she said, using the initials of North Korea\u2019s formal name, the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea.
\nShe noted how the United States closely monitors the North through its own reconnaissance satellites and other aerial assets, calling the Americans a \u201cgroup of gangsters\u201d who would deem it as \u201cillegal and threatening\u201d had North Korea attempted to send a satellite into space by balloon.
\n\u201cThe far-fetched logic that only the DPRK should not be allowed to do so according to the (U.N. Security Council\u2019s) \u2018resolution\u2019 which bans the use of ballistic rocket technology irrespective of its purpose, though other countries are doing so, is clearly a gangster-like and wrong one of seriously violating the DPRK\u2019s right to use space and illegally oppressing it,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cIt is certain that the DPRK\u2019s military reconnaissance satellite will be correctly put on space orbit in the near future and start its mission,\u201d she added.
\nCiting what she described as U.S. hostility toward the North, Kim reiterated that Pyongyang has no intent to reengage in negotiations with Washington, which have stalemated since 2019 because of disagreements over crippling U.S.-led sanctions imposed over the North\u2019s nuclear weapons and missiles program.
\nWednesday\u2019s launch extended a provocative run in North Korean military demonstrations, including the test-firings of around 100 missiles since the start of 2022 that underscored Kim Jong Un\u2019s attempts to acquire dual ability to conduct nuclear strikes on both the U.S. mainland and South Korea.
\nWednesday\u2019s failed launch raised security jitters in South Korea and Japan, where residents in some areas were briefly urged to take shelter shortly after the launch. South Korea\u2019s military later said it was salvaging an object presumed to be part of the North Korean rocket. Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea\u2019s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a briefing Thursday that the country\u2019s navy has mobilized more vessels and aircraft in search of additional debris to recover and analyze. U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials are closely monitoring North Korea over possible launch preparations but it wasn\u2019t immediately clear whether the North would attempt another launch within the stated June 11 launch window.
\nThe International Maritime Organization\u2019s maritime safety committee adopted a rare resolution Wednesday denouncing North Korea for conducting launches without proper notification, which have \u201cseriously threatened the safety of seafarers and international shipping.\u201d
\nJapan\u2019s coast guard, which coordinates and distributes navigational warnings in the region, wasn\u2019t notified by North Korea until Monday, although such warnings should be made no less than five days in advance. The IMO said it \u201curgently calls upon (North Korea) to cease unlawful and unannounced ballistic missile launches across international shipping lanes.\u201d
\nA military spy satellite is one of several high-tech weapons systems that Kim has publicly vowed to develop to bolster his nuclear deterrent in the face of U.S. sanctions and pressure. Other weapons on his wish list include a multi-warhead missile, a nuclear submarine, a solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile and a hypersonic missile.
\nWhile North Korea with past long-range missile and rocket tests has shown it can put satellites in space, it\u2019s less clear whether its technology has advanced enough to meet its stated goal of using satellites to monitor U.S. and South Korean military activities in real time.
\nThe two Earth-observation satellites it placed in orbit in 2012 and 2016 never transmitted imagery back to North Korea, foreign experts say. And analysts say the new device displayed recently in state media appeared too small and crudely designed to process and transfer high-resolution imagery.
\nThe U.N. Security Council imposed economic sanctions on North Korea over its previous satellite and ballistic missile launches, but it has failed to punish the North over its recent tests. The council\u2019s permanent members China and Russia have continuously rejected U.S.-led efforts to toughen sanctions on Pyongyang, underscoring a divide deepened over Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine.
\nNATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg strongly condemned the launch using ballistic missile technology.
\n\u201cThis blatantly violates several U.N. Security Council resolutions. It is a threat to neighbors and a challenge to global stability,\u201d he said Thursday at a news conference in Oslo, Norway. \u201cThis launch raises tensions and poses risks to regional security and beyond.\u201d AP<\/p>\n
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SEOUL, South Korea, 1 Jun: The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday accused the United States of \u201cgangster-like\u201d hypocrisy for criticizing her country\u2019s failed launch of a military spy satellite and insisted a successful launch will be made soon. Kim Yo Jong said North Korea\u2019s efforts to acquire space-based reconnaissance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-217452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}