North Korea assessed its failed attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite late last month as a "most serious" shortcoming that "cannot be overlooked" and pledged to successfully put one into space soon, its state media said Monday.
The assessment was made during an enlarged three-day plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea through Sunday. The gathering also called to maintain the country's policy of increasing the production of powerful nuclear weapons, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
A report on the key meeting, attended by leader Kim Jong Un, "bitterly criticized" officials involved in the unsuccessful satellite launch on May 31, saying they "irresponsibly conducted the preparations" for the launch.
Scientists were instructed to make a thorough analysis of the cause and to carry out a successful launch "in a short span of time and thus make a shortcut to improving" reconnaissance intelligence capabilities of the country's military, KCNA said.
The meeting emphasized that the development of a military reconnaissance satellite is "of very great significance" in making "full preparations for combat" among the five-point major goals stipulated in a five-year national defense plan from 2021.
The Political Bureau of the party's Central Committee also called on "the national defense field to consistently adhere to the orientation of developing nuclear weapons" and bolstering the nuclear force, the news agency said.
Referring to the United States and South Korea, the report noted "the extremely deteriorating security situation" on the Korean Peninsula due to "the reckless war moves of the hostile forces" and called for a swift response.
The Political Bureau recognized "offensive countermeasures should always be taken forcefully without delay against the enemy's intentional and undisguised escalation of military tension" and the plenary meeting "unanimously approved concrete plans and modes of counteraction," KCNA said without elaborating.
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