Pyongyang, May 17 (KCNA) -- The non-permanent satellite- launching preparatory committee for launching the military reconnaissance satellite No. 1, which is composed of scientists and technicians of the DPRK Aerospace Development Administration, national defence scientific research institutes and universities and scientific research institutes at all levels of the DPRK, is pushing ahead with its work at the final stage amid an intensive campaign for bolstering up the self-defence capabilities to attain the major five-point goals for developing national defence capabilities set at the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea.

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), guided the work of the non-permanent satellite-launching preparatory committee on the spot on May 16.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was greeted by leading officials of the Department of Munitions Industry and the Department of Science and Education of the Party Central Committee, members of the Aerospace Development Administration and the non-permanent satellite-launching preparatory committee.

After acquainting himself in detail with the work of the committee, he inspected the military reconnaissance satellite No. 1 which is ready for loading after undergoing the final general assembly check and space environment test.

He highly appreciated that the preparatory committee has fulfilled its duty and role in a responsible manner in the course of carrying out the important work for dramatically developing the military technology of the country.

To successfully launch the military reconnaissance satellite is an urgent requirement of the prevailing security environment of the country, a process of correctly implementing our Party and government's policy of bolstering up the defence capabilities on a top priority basis, and at the same time, a clear stride forward in developing the space military, science and technology of the country, he said, specifying the strategic goals to be attained continuously in the field of space research.

Repeatedly stressing the strategic nature of possessing military reconnaissance satellites, he said that the more desperately the U.S. imperialists and south Korean puppet villains escalate their confrontational moves against the DPRK, the more fairly, squarely and offensively the DPRK will exercise its sovereignty and just right to self-defence to deter them and defend the country.

He approved the future action plan of the preparatory committee. -0-

www.kcna.kp (Juche112.5.17.)