Kim Yo Jong
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The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, in a file photo

North Korea: Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong vows 2nd attempt to launch spy satellite


The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed again Sunday to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as she lambasted a U.N. Security Council meeting over the Norths first, failed launch.

The Norths attempt to put its first military spy satellite into orbit last Wednesday failed as its rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsulas western coast. An emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council was still convened at the request of the U.S., Japan and other countries to discuss the launch because it had violated council resolutions banning the North from performing any launch using ballistic technology.

On Sunday, Kims sister and senior ruling party official, Kim Yo Jong, called the U.N. council a political appendage of the United States, saying its recent meeting was convened following Americas gangster-like request.

She accused the U.N. council of being discriminative and rude because it only takes issue with the Norths satellite launches while thousands of satellites launched by other countries are already operating in space. She said her countrys attempt to acquire a spy satellite is a legitimate step to respond to military threats posed by the U.S. and its allies.

(North Korea) will continue to take proactive measures to exercise all the lawful rights of a sovereign state, including the one to a military reconnaissance satellite launch, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. In her earlier statement Friday, Kim Yo Jong said the Norths spy satellite will be correctly put on space orbit in the near future” but didnt say when its second launch attempt would take place.

South Koreas spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday it will likely take more than several weeks for North Korea to learn the cause of the failed launch but it may attempt a second launch soon if defects arent serious.

A military surveillance satellite is among a list of sophisticated weapons systems that Kim Jong Un has vowed to acquire amid protracted security tensions with the United States. Since the start of 2022, Kim has carried out more than 100 missile tests in what he called a warning over expanded military drills between the U.S. and South Korea.

Experts say Kim would want to use his modernized weapons arsenal to wrest concessions from Washington and its partners in future diplomacy.

North Korea was slapped with rounds of U.N. sanctions over its past nuclear and missile tests and satellite launches. But the U.N. Security Council failed to toughen those sanctions over North Koreas recent testing activities because China and Russia, both permanent members of the U.N. council, blocked the U.S. and others attempts to do so. During the latest U.N. council session Friday, China and Russia again clashed with the U.S. over the Norths failed launch.

After repeated failures, North Korea placed Earth-observation satellites into orbit in 2012 and 2016, but foreign experts say there is no evidence that either satellite transmitted imagery and other data.


(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)

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