North Korea says satellite pictured White House, Pentagon

News

By Caitlin Doornbos

WASHINGTON — North Korea claimed Tuesday its recently launched reconnaissance satellite had snapped photos of the White House, Pentagon, and key US military installations across the world — though questions remain about the technology’s capabilities.

Dictator Kim Jong Un has personally reviewed the images, which were captured late Monday, Pyongyang’s Korea Central News Agency propaganda service claimed.

“[Kim] also received in detail satellite photos of the Norfolk Naval Station, the Newport News Dockyard, and an airfield of Virginia,” KCNA reported.

The Hermit Kingdom is known for bluffing about its military and technological achievements.

North Korea in May announced its first attempt to launch a spy satellite into orbit had failed, losing its thrust after its first stage and crashing into the Yellow Sea.

In June, South Korea salvaged its hostile neighbor’s first satellite from the waters west of the Korean peninsula.

Analysis of its remains indicated that its technology was not advanced enough to be capable of military spying from space, despite Pyongyang’s claims, Seoul said this summer.

While the latest launch may be capable of capturing general snapshots, South Korea doubts its value as a reconnaissance asset — noting the satellite’s imaging capabilities may offer little more value than Google Earth.

Technology experts at the time surmised that its camera likely could only recognize large targets such as warships or military bases.

In an apparent attempt to prove the authenticity of the new satellite’s images, KCNA claimed that “four US Navy nuclear carriers and one British aircraft carrier were spotted in the photos of the Norfolk Naval Station and the Newport News Dockyard.”

However, information on the carriers’ in-port locations is publicly available.

For example, a quick internet search by The Post revealed the HMS Prince of Wales — one of the United Kingdom’s two aircraft carriers — is currently in Norfolk, according to online fleet trackers.

So far, there has been no third-party verification of the satellite’s capabilities, and North Korea has not released any of the purported photographs to the public.

But regardless of its surveillance capacity, defense experts have said the launch alone could have benefitted the Kim regime’s work to develop its nuclear, space and ballistics capabilities.

The satellite was launched using ballistic missile technology, which violated United Nations Security Council resolutions that prohibit North Korea from using such capabilities.