North Korea makes rare appearance at UN, defends spy satellite launch after Kim inspects White House images

In a rare move, North Korea's ambassador appeared at the UN Security Council on Monday (Nov 27) and defended his country's launch of a spy rocket satellite, calling it an act of self-defence.

This came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the photos of "major target regions", including that of the White House and Pentagon.

Countries like South Korea and Japan have said that Pyongyang breached Security Council resolutions by launching the spy satellite earlier this week.

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North Korea earlier said that its latest satellite has captured and sent across images of major US and South Korean military sites, as well as photos of the Italian capital Rome.

As per the state-run KCNA news agency, the satellite took "in detail" images of the White House and the Pentagon in Washington which Kim later studied.

The report further said that he had also counted the number of aircraft carriers at a military base and a shipyard in the neighbouring state of Virginia.

No other countries face restrictions on satellites, says Kim Song

North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations, Kim Song, at the Security Council, expressed disappointment over no other country facing restrictions over satellites.

"No other nation in the world is in the security environment as critical as the DPRK," said Kim, using the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"One belligerent party, the United States, is threatening us with a nuclear weapon," he said.

"It is a legitimate right for the DPRK as another belligerent party to develop, test, manufacture and possess weapons systems equivalent to those that the United States possesses or is developing."

Mocking US charges, he stated that the satellite technology also assisted North Korea in sharpening its projectile capability, tauntingly remarking if the United States put satellites into orbit "with a catapult."

The US ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, rebuffed North Korea's claim that it was acting in self-defence and said that joint US-South Korean exercises were "routine" and "defensive in nature".

"We intentionally reduce risk and pursue transparency by announcing the exercises in advance including the dates and the activities, unlike the DPRK," she said, adding that the drills did not violate Security Council resolutions.

(With inputs from agencies)