SEOUL - South Korea’s first homemade spy satellite has transmitted images of central Pyongyang in North Korea, in one of its earliest missions since being launched late 2023, Yonhap News Agency reported on March 3.

The test transmissions of the images, which are of a “good” resolution after calibration, also show boats docked at ports, Yonhap said, quoting an unidentified government source.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry declined to confirm the transmissions. Seoul launched the satellite using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in December.

It came on the heels of North Korea placing its first spy satellite into orbit to allow leader Kim Jong Un’s regime to keep an eye on US troop movements in the region.

South Korea has long relied on the United States for space-based intelligence but is now seeking to supplement that by stepping up its own reconnaissance capabilities with a series of launches aimed at putting five spy satellites in orbit by 2025. BLOOMBERG