State media has since reported that the satellite photographed cities and military bases in South Korea, Guam and Italy, as well as the US capital.
“Do you remember when you got the toy you always wanted for Christmas and you were so excited you wanted to tell everyone about it?” said Chad O’Carroll, founder of the North Koreafocused website NK News , in a post about the KCNA reports on X.
So far, Pyongyang has not released any images, leaving analysts and foreign governments to debate the new satellite’s actual capabilities.
South Korea, which said Tuesday that the Nov. 30 launch date of its first spy satellite on a U.S. Falcon 9 rocket would be postponed due to weather, said the North Korean satellite’s performance cannot be verified.
There is no reason to doubt that the satellite could see the large areas or warships that North Korea claims it can see, since even a mediumresolution camera could give Pyongyang that capability, said imaging expert Dave Schmerler. Satellite view of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS).
“But the usefulness of these images depends on the purpose for which they are used,” he said.