North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has visited a facility assembling the country's first spy satellite, indicating the state could soon conduct its first space rocket launch in about seven years.
Kim was accompanied by his preteen daughter in the "field guidance" visit to inspect the "military reconnaissance satellite No. 1 which is ready for loading,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday. The device is designed to monitor U.S. forces and their allies in Asia.
The leader stressed the need for the spy satellite as "the U.S. imperialists and south Korean puppet villains escalate their confrontational moves against the DPRK,” KCNA reported, referring to North Korea by its formal name and avoiding a formal reference for its neighbor to the south.