North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, leader Kim Jong Un's sister says her country's military spy satellite will soon enter into orbit and promised Pyongyang will increase military surveillance, state media KCNA reported.
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"We are ready to act whatever it may be in defending its sovereign right and interests," Kim, a powerful government official in her own right, said in a statement carried by KCNA.
Her remarks follow the failure of a North Korean satellite launch on Wednesday.
The launch appeared to have been rushed and may need several weeks at least to fix its rocket's problem, a South Korean politician said on Wednesday citing the South's intelligence agency.
In a rare admission of failure by North Korea, KCNA reported that a rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite known as "Malligyong-1" crashed into the sea after an accident occurred.
The launch was widely criticised including by South Korea, Japan and the United States.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said any launch by Pyongyang using ballistic missile technology breaches Security Council resolutions, a spokesperson said.
In her statement, Kim said the criticisms of Wednesday's test were "self-contradiction" as the US and other countries have already launched "thousands of satellites."
In a separate statement carried by KCNA, North Korea's vice foreign minister Kim Son Gyong criticised US-led military drills in the region including a multinational anti-proliferation naval drill.
Commercial satellite imagery of one of the launch pads at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station showed more than a dozen vehicles, US-based 38 North, a program that analyses North Korea, said in a report.
"Which pad was used for the launch cannot yet be confirmed," the report said. "However, activity at the main launch pad is consistent with post-launch assessment and clean-up efforts."
Meanwhile, a resolution adopted by a majority of over 100 countries attending the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) security committee "strongly" condemned the missile tests "which seriously threatened the safety of seafarers and international shipping".
North Korea rejected the resolution by the UN agency and a paper submitted by countries including the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia.
It said in response in that the missile tests "constitute routine and planned self-defensive measures taken by a sovereign state to defend the national security".
"(North Korea) is not in a position to be able to provide prior notification of its military exercises and self-defensive measures," it said a submission to the IMO committee.
North Korea added that the missile launches were "based on the accurate scientific calculation and consideration of their point of impact and the routes of ships voyaging in the waters".
The paper was also submitted by Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Vanuatu.
Australian Associated Press
