North Korea vowed more satellite launches within a short span of time, after it succeeded recently in launching a military spy satellite into orbit, which it revealed has taken photos of the White House, the Pentagon and nuclear aircraft carriers docked at a US naval base.
"It is a legal and just way to exercise its right to defend itself and thoroughly respond to and precisely monitor the serious military action by the US and its followers," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
KCNA revealed that North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un viewed the photos as he received an operations report from the Pyongyang General Control Center of the National Aerospace Technology Administration on Monday morning and at dawn Tuesday. He observed satellite photos of the White House and the Pentagon.
The spy satellite also took photos of Naval Station Norfolk, Newport News Shipyard and a Virginia airfield, KCNA said.
North Korea launched the Malligyong-1 spy satellite on a new type of Chollima-1 rocket last Tuesday night after two failed attempts in May and August, respectively.
Since its successful launch, North Korea has claimed the satellite took photos of major military facilities in South Korea and the US territories of Guam and Hawaii. But the North has not released related satellite photos.
North Korea said Monday that a "fine-tuning" process on the satellite is under way and is one or two days ahead of schedule. The country earlier said the Malligyong-1 will begin its official mission Friday.
South Korea's military said it is closely monitoring whether the satellite is normally functioning, though it appears to have entered an orbit.
