SEOUL: North Korea conducted an important test Sunday in the final phase of its development of a reconnaissance satellite, the country’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said Monday.
   
The KCNA was apparently referring to the launches of two medium-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Sunday from a site in the Tongchang-ri area in northwestern North Korea.

Pyongyang’s National Aerospace Development Administration claimed that it will finish preparations for its first military reconnaissance satellite by April next year.

The country released photographs believed to be taken from the satellite used in the latest test. According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, the photographs are of Seoul and the nearby Port of Incheon.

The KCNA said that equipment slated to be mounted on the satellite, such as cameras, were loaded into a rocket and launched at a high angle to an altitude of 500 kilometers, and that tests were conducted on them in space.

The NADA claimed to have achieved technical benchmarks in the test, including for processing and transmitting data, taking satellite images and tracking and controlling the satellite by a ground control system.

It also said that the test was an important achievement, clearing the final hurdle for the launch of a reconnaissance satellite.

North Korea conducted intercontinental ballistic missile launches on Feb. 27 and March 5 as part of its reconnaissance satellite development.

The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, said in March that the objective of the spy satellite was to immediately grasp information on military actions by Japan, South Korea and the United States.

JIJI Press