N. Korea claims to have taken photos of the White House and Pentagon

북한 “미 백악관•펜타곤 위성 촬영“ 이에 이어 GP 복원 Seoul, the U.S. army base in Pyeongtaek, the White House, and the Pentagon. These are the major sites North Korea claims to have taken pictures of using its military spy satellite launched last week. The regime is yet to disclose the images and so, both South Korea and the U.S. are casting doubt over the claims, with Washington even saying there are plenty of such images available online. Meanwhile, North Korea began restoring guard posts and beefing up its military presence at the DMZ after declaring that it would no longer be bound by the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement. How do the experts see North Korea’s claims related to the satellite images and what should South Korea’s diplomatic strategy be? For more on this, we invite Doctor Go Myong-hyun, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Welcome, Doctor Go. We also have Doctor Mark Barry, Associate Editor Emeritus of the International Journal on World Peace. Good to see you, Doctor Barry. (GO) Q1. North Korea claims that its recently launched spy satellite took photos of major South Korean and U.S. military bases, along with the White House and Pentagon. It hasn’t revealed those images, so what is North Korea trying to say exactly? (BARRY) Q2. We know that North Korea had long been working on a spy satellite launch but some say Pyongyang hurried as South Korea was originally scheduled to launch its own domestically-developed satellite on November 30th in California though it was postponed. What is your view on this? (GO) Q3. The quality of the spy satellite’s imagery has yet to be confirmed and it will take some time to figure out the satellite’s capabilities but if it does have the capability to match Pyonyang’s claims, would that be a big threat to Seoul? (BARRY) Q4. Even if it is not that much of a threat for now, if Pyongyang goes on with additional launches perhaps with Russia’s help, there is the possibility of much more advanced satellites being launched, right? How should South Korea deal with it? (GO) Q5. In response to North Korea’s satellite launch, South Korea decided to partially suspend a 2018 tension reduction deal with North Korea. First of all, what was this military agreement and what measures have followed the suspension? (BARRY) Q6. To this, North Korea announced that it will fully pull out of the September 19th agreement and restore guard posts and dispatch soldiers and equipment to the Demilitarized Zone. How has that process been going and what does that hint at? (GO) Q7. Yet regarding all this, North Korea claimed that South Korea was the one that breached the inter-Korean military accord citing joint military drills. This is North Korea’s usual tactic of blaming Seoul for the tension, right? (BARRY) Q8. Meanwhile, the IAEA confirmed that the Yongbyon nuclear site is running again, saying there were indications of ongoing operation. What does the Yongbyon site hold and since Pyongyang is enjoying closer ties with Russia than ever before, would it give the regime more confidence to conduct a 7th nuclear test? (GO) Q9. Now to international reaction foreign minister Park Jin held talks with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi before their trilateral meeting with the Japanese foreign minister. While tapping into the North Korea issue, Wang Yi reportedly said China will play a role in helping ensure the stability of the Korean Peninsula. Is this just a continuation of what Beijing had already been saying? (BARRY) Q10. The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting over North Korea’s satellite launch. How did it go? (BOTH) Q11. Tension has heightened more than ever. In what direction should South Korea’s security strategy go given that North Korea successfully launched the spy satellite? Unfortunately, that’s all the time we have for today’s edition. Thank you Doctor Go and Doctor Barry for your time and insights. We appreciate it. #UnitedStates #NorthKorea #Spy_satellite #DMZ #GP #미국 #북한 #정찰위성 #도발 #Arirang_News #아리랑뉴스 📣 Facebook : 📣 Twitter : 📣 Homepage : 2023-11-29, 18:30 (KST)