DPRK leader lauds satellite launch

Top leader Kim Jong Un of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) described his country's recent successful satellite launch as a show of might, official media reported Saturday.

Kim made the remarks during a banquet here Friday for scientists, engineers, workers and officers who took part in the Dec. 12 launch of the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite, according to official news agency KCNA.

"They successfully launched off the satellite despite severe cold in winter without exerting any influence on neighboring countries and thus powerfully demonstrated our space science and technology at the ultra modern level before the whole world," he was quoted as saying.

Kim also said the launch was a declaration that "demonstrated the DPRK's independent and legitimate right to use space for peaceful purposes."

Stressing the importance of and the country's high attention to developing space science and technology, Kim called for "further raising the hot wind of pushing back the frontiers of the latest science and technology to occupy space and thus glorifying our country as a space power admired by the world."

On Dec. 12, the second version of Kwangmyongsong-3 successfully lifted off from the Sohae Space Center aboard carrier rocket Unha-3 and entered the pre-set orbit, according to the KCNA.

The satellite launch drew a wave of protests. The UN Security Council condemned the rocket launch, calling the move "a clear violation" of council resolutions.

Resolutions 1718 and 1874 bar the DPRK from undertaking launches using ballistic missile technology.

The United States and its allies saw the rocket launch as a disguised test of the DPRK's long-range ballistic missile capabilities.