North Korea has claimed its recently launched satellite has sent back “detailed” images of the White House, the Pentagon and US nuclear aircraft carriers that have been viewed by the regime leader, Kim Jong-un, according to the Guardian.
The existence of the images has not been independently verified, and experts say it is too soon to determine if the Malligyong-1 spy satellite is functioning properly, a week after its launch.
On Tuesday, the state-run KCNA news agency said Kim, who viewed the launch then hosted a banquet for scientists and space programme workers, had viewed photos of the two US government sites, which were taken late on Monday night.
The satellite also took photographs of a US naval base, a shipyard and an airfield in Virginia, KCNA said, adding that the images contained four US nuclear aircraft carriers and a British aircraft carrier.
The regime in Pyongyang will be eager to extract maximum propaganda value from last Tuesday’s launch, which drew immediate condemnation from Washington and raised tensions along the heavily armed inter-Korean border.
The North has also claimed the satellite took photos of military installations in South Korea, as well as the US Pacific territory of Guam and the state of Hawaii. None of the images have been made public.