Pyongyang, North Korea - The office operating North Korea's newly launched spy satellite will run as a military intelligence organization, state media said Sunday.

Pyongyang successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit last month and has since claimed it was providing images of major US and South Korean military sites, as well as the White House.

North Korea has not yet disclosed any of the satellite imagery it claims to possess but warned on Saturday that any attack on its space asset would be considered a "declaration of war." It also threatened to destroy US spy satellites in return, after an official hinted at measures Washington could take against Pyongyang's new asset.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Sunday that the newly formed reconnaissance satellite operation office had begun its mission on December 2 and would operate as "an independent military intelligence organization".

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The office will report its acquired information to the reconnaissance bureau at the army and other major units, KCNA added.

North Korea is barred by successive rounds of UN resolutions from tests using ballistic technology, and analysts say there is significant technological overlap between space launch capabilities and the development of ballistic missiles.