North Korea's Kim: Satellite Launch Was Exercise of Right to Self-defense

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un - AFP
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un - AFP
TT
20

North Korea's Kim: Satellite Launch Was Exercise of Right to Self-defense

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un - AFP
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un - AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country's recent launch of a spy satellite was an exercise of its right to self-defence, as Pyongyang celebrated the event as showing it could strike anywhere in the world, state media reported.

North Korea said on Tuesday it had placed its first spy satellite in orbit, drawing international condemnation for violating UN resolutions that bar its use of technology applicable to ballistic missile programs.

Kim visited the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) to applaud space scientists and technicians, and said Tuesday's launch was an "eye-opening event" in the face of the "dangerous and aggressive" moves of the hostile forces, KCNA news agency reported.

"He said that the possession of reconnaissance satellite is a full-fledged exercise of the right to self-defense the DPRK armed forces can neither concede even a bit nor stop, even a moment," KCNA said, using the initials of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Reuters reported.

North Korea hosted a reception to celebrate the launch on Thursday, where Premier Kim Tok Hun said the satellite would develop the North Korean military into "the world's best army possessed of capability for striking the whole world".

State media photographs showed Kim's family members joining the leader to celebrate the launch.

Kim's daughter sat next to him at the banquet wearing a T-shirt with NATA's logo, along with Kim's wife, his sister, rocket scientists and engineers, state media photographs showed.

This week's satellite launch was the North's third attempt this year after two failures and followed Kim's rare trip to Russia in September, during which President Vladimir Putin vowed to help Pyongyang build satellites.

South Korean officials said the latest launch most likely involved Russian technical assistance under a growing partnership that has seen Pyongyang supply Russia with millions of artillery shells.

Russia and North Korea have denied arms deals but have promised deeper cooperation.

South Korea has said that the North Korean satellite was believed to have entered orbit, but that it would take time to assess whether it was operating normally.



Ukrainian Forces Knock out North Korean Self-Propelled Howitzer, Military Says 

A handout picture made available 09 February 2025 by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces, shows servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo, preparing to fire 2S1 self-propelled 122mm howitzer towards Russian positions, near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, 07 February 2025 amid the Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 24 Mechanized Brigade Handout) 
A handout picture made available 09 February 2025 by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces, shows servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo, preparing to fire 2S1 self-propelled 122mm howitzer towards Russian positions, near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, 07 February 2025 amid the Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 24 Mechanized Brigade Handout) 
TT
20

Ukrainian Forces Knock out North Korean Self-Propelled Howitzer, Military Says 

A handout picture made available 09 February 2025 by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces, shows servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo, preparing to fire 2S1 self-propelled 122mm howitzer towards Russian positions, near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, 07 February 2025 amid the Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 24 Mechanized Brigade Handout) 
A handout picture made available 09 February 2025 by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces, shows servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo, preparing to fire 2S1 self-propelled 122mm howitzer towards Russian positions, near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, 07 February 2025 amid the Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 24 Mechanized Brigade Handout) 

Ukrainian forces have struck and knocked out a North Korean self-propelled howitzer on the eastern front of the nearly three-year-old war with Russia, Ukraine's military said on Tuesday.

A statement by the Khortytsia, or East, group of forces said it was the first time since the start of the conflict that a North Korean М-1978 Koksan howitzer had been hit by a Ukrainian drone.

"In Luhansk region, fighters of the 412th separate regiment of Nemesis drones struck a very rare M-1978 North Korean self-propelled artillery vehicle with a gun caliber of 170 mm," the statement posted on Telegram said.

The post was accompanied by a video showing a military target being blown up, and said the Koksan had first been observed in the war in October 2024. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.

North Korea's military aid to Russia has included about 200 long-range artillery pieces and a significant amount of ammunition, South Korea's defense ministry told a parliament committee last week.

Luhansk region, mostly occupied by Russian forces, is one of four that Russia formally annexed in 2022, moves that Ukraine and its allies have not recognized.

Ukraine and Western military experts say up to 12,000 North Korean troops were deployed in southern Russia's Kursk region alongside Russian forces and have also reported military equipment from Pyongyang being used.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week that Russia could send up to 3,000 more North Korean troops to Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces hold a chunk of territory more than six months after launching a cross-border incursion.

North Korean security agents are monitoring and controlling their country's troops in Kursk, telling them that the South Korean military are flying the drones attacking them, according to an interview with two North Korean prisoners of war captured in Ukraine reported by South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilboon on Wednesday.