North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has studied photographs collected by his country's latest spy satellite of "key target regions" in South Korea, including the capital and cities where US military bases are situated, according to official media.
Pyongyang successfully launched a military spy satellite into orbit earlier this week, but South Korea warned it was too early to know whether the spacecraft worked as the North claimed.
Experts believe that launching a functioning spy satellite into orbit would strengthen North Korea's intelligence-gathering capabilities, notably over South Korea, and would provide critical data in the case of a military clash.
Pyongyang earlier claimed that Kim had already inspected images of US military bases in Guam captured by the satellite, called Maligyon-1, within hours of its launch on Tuesday.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim examined photographs acquired as the satellite sailed over the Korean Peninsula.
The photos show Seoul, as well as Pyeongtaek, Osan, Mokpo, and Gunsan, which are home to South Korean and US military bases, according to the KCNA.
The photos also included some locations of North Korea, they added.
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