(LEAD) N. Korea bristles at U.S. over comments about possible disabling of spy satellite

▲ A new type of the Chollima-1 rocket carrying a reconnaissance satellite called the Malligyong-1 lifts off from the launching pad at the Sohae satellite launch site in Tongchang-ri in northwestern North Korea at 10:42 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2023, in this photo released the next day by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. North Korea said it has successfully placed the spy satellite into orbit and will launch several more satellites "in a short span of time" to secure its reconnaissance capabilities against South Korea. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) N Korea-spy satellite launch

(LEAD) N. Korea bristles at U.S. over comments about possible disabling of spy satellite

(ATTN: ADDS details from a separate KCNA dispatch in last 5 paras)

SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea lashed out at the United States on Saturday after a U.S. space official hinted at possible disabling of the North's military spy satellite launched last week, saying that it will take it as "a declaration of war" against the regime.

A spokesperson of the North's defense ministry issued the statement after Sheryll Klinkel, a strategic communicator at the U.S. Space Command, told a media program in reference to the North's spy satellite that "a variety of reversible and irreversible means" can be employed to "deny" an adversary's space and counterspace capabilities.

Appearing on the Radio Free Asia earlier this week, Klinkel also said that joint force space operations can reduce the effectiveness and lethality of adversary forces across all domains.

"The U.S. Space Force's deplorable hostility toward the DPRK's reconnaissance satellite can never be overlooked as it is just a challenge to the sovereignty of the DPRK, and more exactly, a declaration war against it," read the English-language statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

Citing an article on the U.N. treaty on principles governing space activities, the official said that its Malligyong-1 spy satellite, launched on Nov. 21, falls under the jurisdiction of the launcher state and that is part of its own territory, "not a space weapon."

If the U.S. regards the spy satellite as a "military threat," all of the U.S. spy satellites "flying above the Korean Peninsula every day" should be deemed the primary targets of destruction, the spokesperson added.

"In case the U.S. tries to violate the legitimate territory of a sovereign state by weaponizing the latest technologies illegally and unjustly, the DPRK will consider taking responsive action measures for self-defense to undermine or destroy the viability of the U.S. spy satellites by exercising its legitimate rights vested by international and domestic laws," the official said.

In a separate dispatch, North Korea repeated its criticism of the U.S. for the deployment of its strategic assets near the Korean Peninsula and conducting military exercises, accusing Washington of being the "root cause" of the regional tension.

"The U.S. deployment of nuclear strategic assets and the anti-DPRK nuclear war drills led by the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces are escalating to the degree giving such mistaken impression that the base and homeport of U.S. nuclear strategic assets were shifted from Anderson Air Force Base on Guam and Yokosuka Port of Japan to the area of the Korean peninsula," Kang Jin-song, an international affairs analyst, said in an article also carried by the KCNA.

"This is damning evidence proving that the U.S. is the arch culprit of ever-escalating tensions on the peninsula," Kang said.

The U.S. will be held "wholly accountable" for any unexpected clash around the Korean Peninsula, he added.

In late November, the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson arrived in a naval base in the southeastern port city of Busan, followed by the entry of USS Santa Fe, a Los Angeles-class submarine, into a naval base on the southern island of Jeju.

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