▲ These photos, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Dec. 19, 2022, show Seoul (R) and its adjacent city of Incheon that the country claimed were taken from a "test-piece satellite" that it fired the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
▲ Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister and vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, delivers a speech during a national meeting in Pyongyang on anti-epidemic measures on Aug. 10, 2022, in this file photo captured from a North Korean state television report. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(2nd LD) NK leader's sister-statement

(2nd LD) NK leader's sister dismisses doubts about N. Korea's satellite, ICBM technologies

(ATTN: UPDATES with indication of possible ICBM launch in last 2 paras; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issued a statement Tuesday criticizing those who question the secretive regime's assertion of having made significant progress in its satellite and long-range ballistic missile development.

Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, took issue with a view among experts in the outside world, including those in South Korea, that low-resolution, black-and-white images of Seoul and Incheon, released by Pyongyang the previous day, are too crude to be satellite photos.

The North claimed the launch of rockets was part of its military reconnaissance satellite project and made public those two photos, presumed to be taken from a mock satellite.

Some experts here soon said the quality of the imagery is too poor.

Kim said it's "inappropriate and hasty" to assess the North's satellite development capabilities and relevant preparations with the two photos alone.

She also condemned those who question whether the North has mastered the atmospheric reentry technology for its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

She hinted at the possibility that the North will fire an ICBM at a normal angle for the verification of its related technology.

"(You) will soon see and understand it," she said.

(END)

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