A senior U.S. defense official said the United States will take North Korea’s military space capability seriously if it has elements enabling the North to conduct a war.

John Plumb, the first assistant secretary of defense for space policy, made the remarks on Wednesday during a briefing on the U.S.’ space policy.

When asked about how to curb the North’s potential threat in space, Plumb said that there is a host of problems from North Korea, including its ballistic missile programs and violations of UN Security Council resolutions. 

The Pentagon official, however, added that as most nations seek access to space, it is not clear that just launching a satellite constitutes a threat. 

Plumb said that as far as the idea of North Korea posing a threat from space, if there are things that enable the North's ability to "do a war fight," that is a thing that the U.S. takes seriously and will track and build into its plans. 

North Korea claimed to have successfully launched its first military spy satellite called the Malligyong-1 in November. A few days later, the North said that the new spy satellite had photographed the White House, Pentagon, U.S. bases in Guam and South Korean cities.