People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with a picture of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's latest satellite-carrying rocket launch, at a railway station in Seoul on November 22, 2023. (PHOTO /AFP)

SEOUL - A special office started Saturday to operate the reconnaissance satellite "Malligyong-1," which the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched last month, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday.

The office, located at the Pyongyang General Control Center of the National Aerospace Technology Administration, will perform its mission as an independent military intelligence agency, said the KCNA.

The information acquired through the mission will be reported to the relevant permanent executive department of the Central Military Commission of the country's ruling Workers' Party of Korea, and will then be offered, under instructions, to military units tasked with state war deterrence and the General Reconnaissance Bureau of the Korean People's Army, it added.

The Ministry of National Defense of the DPRK warned that "any attack against the country's space assets will be deemed as declaration of war," KCNA reported

In vindication of the move to launch the reconnaissance satellite, the KCNA criticized the repeated US deployment of its strategic nuclear assets as the "root cause" of the escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula.

The last month saw the US deployment of its strategic nuclear assets, including the nuclear carrier Carl Vinson, to the Republic of Korea, followed by tripartite maritime exercises by the United States, Japan and the ROK in open waters near the Jeju Island of ROK, said the KCNA commentary.

On Sunday, the state news agency issued another commentary condemning the move by ROK to partially suspend an inter-Korean military agreement designed to defuse danger of an armed conflict along the Military Demarcation Line as "reckless and imprudent."

ALSO READ: DPRK speeds up fine-tuning of its reconnaissance satellite

The article noted that the situation proves once again the validity of the DPRK's choice to keep pushing forward with the bolstering of its nuclear war deterrence and the modernization of its armed forces.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Ministry of National Defense of the DPRK warned that "any attack against the country's space assets will be deemed as declaration of war," KCNA reported.

The warning came after an official from the US Space Command recently said that the United States can decrease the enemy country's outer space operation capabilities by employing diverse "reversible and irreversible methods," hinting at the US intention to militarily attack "Malligyong-1," according to the statement.

Noting the reconnaissance satellite is "a part of the territory of the DPRK where its sovereignty is exercised," the ministry said the US stance is "a challenge to the sovereignty of the DPRK, and more exactly, a declaration of war against it."

READ MORE: KCNA: DPRK tested new solid-fuel engines for ballistic missiles

"It is the mission of the DPRK armed forces to exercise their war deterrent to protect the state sovereignty and territorial integrity in case a lethal military attack is carried out against the country's strategic assets or it is judged such attack is imminent," the ministry added.