CLASSIFIED

MALLIGYONG-1

North Korean Reconnaissance Satellite · National Aerospace Technology Administration (North Korea)

North Korea's first spy satellite, launched November 21, 2023 on its third attempt after two rockets crashed into the Yellow Sea earlier that year. Its actual usefulness stayed genuinely disputed for years — analysts assessed its resolution as good for spotting large troop movements at best. That ambiguity has since narrowed: North Korean state media reported in May 2026 that Kim Jong Un had personally reviewed Malligyong-1 imagery of the White House, the Pentagon, US carriers at Norfolk, and the South Korean cities of Seoul, Busan, and Daegu — the clearest public claim yet that the satellite is being used operationally, whatever its true resolution turns out to be.