NewsRescue
The US is in no position to condemn North Korea for attempting to launch a satellite after sending thousands into space itself, said Kim Jong-un’s prominent sister on Thursday. Kim Yo-jong stated that Pyongyang would soon launch its first reconnaissance spacecraft.
North Korea confirmed on Wednesday that its rocket carrying the military satellite Malligyong-1 crashed into the Yellow Sea due to a second-stage engine malfunction.
Washington and its allies in South Korea and Japan condemned the development. US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Pyongyang’s attempted launch was cause for “major concern,” even if it failed. “Kim Jong-un and his scientists and engineers work, improve, and adapt.” And they continue to develop military capabilities that pose a threat not only to the peninsula but to the region as a whole,” he added.
According to Kirby’s colleague Adam Hodge, “the door to diplomacy has not closed, but Pyongyang must immediately cease its provocative actions and instead choose engagement.”
Kim Yo-jong claimed in a statement quoted by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that “if the DPRK’s (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) satellite launch is particularly condemned, the US and all other countries that have already launched thousands of satellites should be denounced.” This is nothing but self-contradiction sophism.”
“The far-fetched logic that only the DPRK should not be allowed to do so… even though other countries are doing so is clearly a gangster-like and wrong one of seriously violating and illegally oppressing the DPRK’s right to use space,” she said.
Pyongyang is prohibited by a UN Security Council resolution from utilising ballistic missile technology for any purpose, including space launches.
Kim’s sister, a prominent member of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, asserted that “it is certain that the DPRK’s military reconnaissance satellite will be correctly placed in space orbit and begin its mission in the near future.”
