North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered preparations for launching the country's first military spy satellite as planned, as he said Pyongyang completed its building, state-run media said on Wednesday.
During an on-site inspection Tuesday at the National Aerospace Development Administration, North Korea's space development agency, Kim said he hopes to launch the satellite by the end of April.
"He set forth the militant task to organize a non-permanent satellite-launching preparatory committee to make sure that the military reconnaissance satellite No. 1 completed as of April will be launched at the planned date," Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim also ordered to speed up final preparations for its launching and firmly establish the satellite intelligence-gathering capability by deploying several reconnaissance satellites on different orbits in succession in the future, the agency reported.
The North Korean leader again criticized the joint military drills of the US and South Korea and said Washington turns Seoul into an advanced base for "aggression and an arsenal for war."
"Possession of such satellite is a primary task to be indispensably fulfilled to bolster up the armed forces of the DPRK that can never be abandoned, missed and changed, and belongs to its sovereignty and legitimate right to self-defense in view of the requirements of the recent security environment on the Korean peninsula and tackling of the long-term threats," the agency quoted Kim as saying.
Tensions in the Korean Peninsula remain high after Pyongyang's recent missile tests.
On Saturday, South Korea's military fired warning shots to repel a North Korean patrol vessel that temporarily crossed the country's disputed western sea boundary while chasing a Chinese fishing boat.
The development coincided with a trilateral military drill involving South Korea, Japan, and the US in the international waters of the Sea of Japan or the East Sea.
On Monday, South Korea, the US and Japan also held a missile defense exercise in the international waters of the East Sea or the Sea of Japan.
