North Korea spy satellite operation office begins mission: KCNA

The office in charge of operating North Korea's military reconnaissance satellite has commenced its mission, Pyongyang's state media said on Sunday, 3 December.

The North successfully placed the reconnaissance satellite, Malligyong-1, into orbit on 21 November after two failed attempts, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The North has since said that a "fine-tuning" process on the satellite was under way and the Malligyong-1 would begin its official mission on 1 December.

"The reconnaissance satellite operation office, organised at the Pyongyang General Control Centre of the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA), started to discharge its mission on December 2," the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The office will perform its mission as an independent military intelligence organisation, it also said.

The KCNA said the information acquired through the mission will be reported to "the relevant permanent executive department of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea and ... offered to major units regarded as war deterrence of the state and the General Reconnaissance Bureau of the Korean People's Army".

The Agency also quoted the country's defence ministry as expressing "expectation that the war deterrence of the DPRK would assume more perfect military posture".

The DPRK refers to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.