Kim Yo Jong, sister of the leader of North Korea and deputy director of the Workers' Party's Central Committee, confirmed that the country will continue efforts to launch a satellite and will place it in orbit soon. This came after Pyongyang acknowledged the failure of its space launch vehicle carrying a military reconnaissance satellite, which fell into the sea due to a technical malfunction.
Kim Yo Jong stated, as reported by the Korean Central News Agency: "We have reaffirmed that the greatest concern of the enemy is our excellent tracking capabilities, including reconnaissance satellites, and thus we recognize the need to put more effort into developing reconnaissance capabilities."
She added: "North Korea understands the level of confrontation with the United States and the potential threats, and we will do our utmost for comprehensive war containment. We will not be bystanders while Washington continues to violate North Korea's sovereign rights." She noted that "if our satellite launch is worthy of condemnation, then countries that have launched thousands of satellites should also be condemned."
She pointed out that "the United States is currently filling the skies over the Korean Peninsula with numerous reconnaissance satellites and drone exploration aircraft to monitor our movements, and it has no right to criticize our military reconnaissance satellite launch." Kim Yo Jong deemed this a "serious and unjust violation of North Korea's sovereignty and its right to explore space."
