North Korea LAUNCH imminent: Kim Jong-un plans to bolster his ‘space programme’

Military and intelligence authorities in the hermit kingdom’s neighbour have stated the satellite features “camera and communication equipment”.

They said: “North Korea has recently manufactured a satellite and named it Kwangmyongsong-5.

“North Korea’s plan is to launch a satellite installed with camera and communication equipment.”

A spokesman for the South Korean military joint chiefs of staff claimed that North Korean movements are “nothing out of ordinary at this moment” and that Seoul is watching Kim Jong-un for further actions that could push nations towards World War 3.

Renewed provocative actions include the “test of a long-range missile disguised as a satellite launch”.

Yesterday, Kim Jong-un’s media mouthpiece, the Rodong Sinmun, reaffirmed the rogue state’s right to expand its ambitious space programme.

The latest slew of shocking propaganda entitled “peaceful space programmes are sovereign countries’ legitimate rights” declared that the launch of a satellite ”absolutely corresponds” with international law.

Since taking power, Kim Jong-un has expanded the space efforts of his rogue regime – at the end of 2012 he claimed the country had successfully launched a satellite.

North Korea appears to have ignored Christmas in a bid to persist with provocative efforts – gatherings involving alcohol and singing have been banned by Kim who last year cancelled Christmas and ordered the few Christians in the hermit state to honour his grandma Kim Jong-suk rather than the birth of Jesus.

Jong-suk — who was born on Christmas Eve in 1919 — was an anti-Japanese guerrilla and Communist activist, wife of North Korea’s first dictator, Kim Il-sung, and former leader Kim Jong-il’s mother.

Many pay homage to the “Sacred Mother of the Revolution”, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1949, by visiting her tomb at Christmas.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Kim had introduced this year’s even more stringent anti-Christmas measures in a bid to stop dissent as sanctions imposed by the United Nations over his country’s nuclear program begin to take hold.

The NIS said: “North Korea has devised a system whereby party organs report people’s economic hardships on a daily basis, and it has banned any gatherings related to drinking, singing and other entertainment and is strengthening control of outside information.”

Opportunities to spread goodwill and cheer have been few in the repressive nation, which bans religious worship except for the founding first family.

Christmas trees decorated with baubles and lights have been spotted in upmarket shops and restaurants in Pyongyang but there are no religious symbols.

Kim is so obsessed with banning Christmas that he threatened all-out war in 2014 when he heard South Korea planned to erect a huge Christmas tree along the border.

Pyongyang used to have more Christians than any other city in Korea and even had a seated Catholic bishop but all that changed in the early 1950s, when authorities clamped down on all Christian activities in the country.

Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the formation of the North Korean government and many experts believe Kim is plotting a major provocation as part of the celebrations.

The world recently tightened its grip on the rogue state after the United Nations imposed fresh sanctions in a bid to stop petrol supplies and ballistic missile tests.

The UN voted unanimously to limit North Korea’s access to refined petroleum products and crude oil and the sanctions would also ban the regime from exporting food, agricultural products, minerals machinery and electrical equipment.