North Korea Warns US That Any Interference With ‘Space Assets’ Will Be Seen as ‘Decla

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North Korea Warns US That Any Interference With ‘Space Assets’ Will Be Seen as ‘Declaration of War’
By: Fatma Khaled - The Messenger News 12-02-23 - updated 28 min. ago
Re: https://themessenger.com/news/north-...aration-of-war

Photo link: https://themessenger.com/_next/image...jpg&w=750&q=75

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, right, visits an airport to see military aircrafts near the port city of Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

North Korea issued a stark warning to the United States on Saturday, stating that any attack on the country’s space assets would be deemed as declaring war, two weeks after claiming an unnamed U.S. Space Command official hinted at targeting those assets.

“Any attack on space asset of the DPRK will be deemed declaration of war against it,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defence of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea– the official name of North Korea], state-run Korean Central News Agency- KCNA Watch reported Saturday.

Pyongyang said nearly two weeks ago that it had launched its first spy satellite “Malligyong-1” into space, raising concerns that North Korea might possibly target its enemies’ forces using the spacecraft, according to CNN.

Pyongyang alleged Saturday that a U.S. Space Command official “spouted rubbish hinting at a military attack on the DPRK’s reconnaissance satellite.”

The ministry spokesperson added that the American command official said that the U.S. “can decrease the enemy country’s outer space operation capabilities by employing diverse ‘reversible and irreversible methods.’”

No details were revealed about who the U.S. official is and The Messenger couldn’t independently verify that such a claim was made by any U.S. Space Command official.

North Korea further argues that its reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1 is part of its territory “where its sovereignty is exercised.”

“Furthermore, [the] reconnaissance satellite is not regarded as a space weapon by international law for its technical features aimed at observation,” the ministry’s spokesperson added.

Japan and South Korea, who also have tensions with North Korea, expressed concerns over the Malligyong-1 launch, with Seoul calling it a “clear violation” of a UN Security Council resolution that bans North Korea from using ballistic missile technology, according to CNN.

However, the ministry spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense of the DPRK said Saturday that if the reconnaissance satellite is regarded by the U.S. as a “military threat” that must be removed, then the “countless spy satellites of the U.S. flying above the Korean peninsula region every day, exclusively tasked with monitoring the major strategic spots of the DPRK, should be deemed the primary targets to be destroyed by the armed forces of the DPRK.”

Following the launch of North Korea’s Malligyong-1, South Korea launched its own first spy satellite with the help of SpaceX.