Kim Jong-un’s sister defends North Korea’s spy satellite technology in vitriolic statement

‘I really want to slap these b*****ds who are rattling on but don’t know where to start’

File: North Koraen leader Kim Jong Un and sister Kim Yo Jong attend the Inter-Korean Summit at the Peace House in South Korea (Getty Images)

Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong has criticised the scrutiny around North Korea’s latest spy satellite test in scathing words, issuing a warning that Pyongyang can silence those doubting the country’s military capabilities.

“I really want to slap these b*****ds who are rattling on but don’t know where to start,” Ms Kim said, according to North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday.

The North Korean leader’s vitriolic remarks came after experts and analysts in South Korea questioned the Kim Jong-un regime’s “important final-stage” test for developing its own reconnaissance satellite, and said that the black and white photos were of too poor quality.

Media reports of the new spy satellite technology test in South Korea said the low quality images showed the weakness of North’s military capabilities.

Ms Kim indicated that a higher-resolution camera will be fitted on the final version “military reconnaissance satellite no 1” which is set to be launched in April 2023 or shortly after.

In the second insulting remark within a month, the powerful North Korean leader said: “I’m already curious what kind of slander you’ll spew when our military satellite soon carries out its mission.”

The statement from Ms Kim used a range of jeering remarks calling the criticism “malicious disparaging”, “rubbish” and “dog barking” as she dismissed the expert assessments questioning the space technology.

“Didn’t they think their assessments are too inadequate and imprudent as they commented on our satellite development capability and related preparations only with two photos that we’ve published in our newspaper,” the senior ruling Workers’ Party official said.

“I think it’s better for them to stop talking nonsense, behave carefully and think twice,” she warned.

North Korea’s state media carried the photos of the spy satellite missile launch on Monday. The 20-metre resolution images were deemed far inferior to those from US military satellites with clarity of centimetres per pixel. But Ms Kim said they were taken from a “test-use camera”.

“Who would install and test an expensive high-resolution camera for a one-off test that lasts under 830 seconds [13.8 minutes],” she asked, according to Seoul news website NK News.

The powerful sister of North Korean supreme leader said the photo taken by the test camera shot the view of the satellite launch “at an angle” from above the country’s territory and not “directly down” over Incheon and Seoul.

Experts have said that these photos were too crude if Mr Kim’s regime needed them for surveillance purposes and that these launches were likely a cover for North Korea’s missile technology.

Confirming the twin launch on Sunday, Ms Kim said the initial launch was to “send signals to the transmitter and test whether the ground control station could trace and receive them”.

The launch was on the day the US and South Korea carried out joint drills and flew nuclear-armed bombers along with advanced stealth jets near the Korean peninsula alongside Seoul’s warplane.

South Korea’s defence ministry said the US B-52 bombers and the F-22 stealth fighter jets have been deployed as part of an agreement to protect South Korea with all available means, including nuclear, in a move that could risk retaliation from the Kim Jong-un regime who recently viewed similar joint drills as a threat from Washington.

The drills, which also included F-35 and F-15 fighter jets from South Korea, took place in the waters southwest of Jeju island, the ministry said.

The US F-22 jets were deployed in South Korea for the first time in four years and will stay throughout this week for training with South Korean forces, it said.

The drills were held after North Korea claimed to have launched rockets to test its first spy satellite under development, and tested a solid-fueled motor to be used on a more mobile intercontinental ballistic missile in the past several days.