North Korea claims to capture images of Pentagon and White House in the U.S.
North Korea claims that a spy satellite photographed the Pentagon and the White House in the U.S. (photo: GettyImages)
North Korea claims that its spy satellite has taken photographs of the White House, the Pentagon, and adjacent U.S. military bases, according to Bloomberg.
Prominent American sites have been added to the list of territories that North Korea alleges were photographed using its military reconnaissance satellite.
It is reported that North Korean official media stated that President Kim Jong Un viewed the recent images and previous photographs of Rome, Anderson Air Base in Guam, Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Carl Vinson.
South Korea salvaged one of North Korea's spy satellites after a failed launch earlier this year and concluded that this technology has no military value. Seoul believes that any satellite from North Korea may, at best, be rudimentary.
North Korea launches spy satellite into orbit
In late May of this year, North Korea attempted to launch the spy satellite Malligyong-1 into orbit, but the carrier rocket crashed into the Yellow Sea.
Later, on June 16, South Korea retrieved several parts of the rocket and satellite from the sea floor. After analyzing the recovered pieces, experts stated that the so-called satellite had no utility as a reconnaissance satellite.
North Korea made a second attempt to launch the satellite on August 23. Tokyo claimed that Pyongyang used banned ballistic missile technology and that the projectile passed through the airspace near Okinawa.
On November 22, North Korea reported a successful ballistic missile launch with a spy satellite on board. South Korea's intelligence agency data indicates that North Korea received assistance from Russia for the successful launch.
