North Korea’s ‘spy’ satellite launch fails; rocket falls into sea

SOUTH KOREA AND JAPAN BRIEFLY URGED RESIDENTS TO TAKE SHELTER DURING THE LAUNCH.

North Korea’s attempt to put the country’s first spy satellite into space failed on Wednesday in a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s push to boost his military capabilities as tensions with the US and South Korea rise.

After an unusually quick admission of failure, North Korea vowed to conduct a second launch after learning what went wrong with its rocket lift-off — instability in the engine and fuel system. It suggests Kim remains determined to expand his weapons arsenal and apply more pressure on Washington and Seoul while diplomacy is stalled. South Korea and Japan briefly urged residents to take shelter during the launch.

The South Korean military said, in a potential intelligence bonanza, it was salvaging an object presumed to be part of the crashed North Korean rocket in waters 200km west of the southwestern island of Eocheongdo. Later, the defence ministry released photos of a white, metal cylinder it described as a suspected rocket part.

A satellite launch by North Korea is a violation of UN Security Council resolutions that ban the country from conducting any launch based on ballistic technology. Observers say North Korea’s previous satellite launches helped improve its longrange missile technology. North Korean long-range missile tests in recent years demonstrated a potential range that could reach all of the continental US, but outside experts say the North Korea still has some work to do to obtain functioning nuclear missiles.

The newly developed Chollima-1 rocket was launched at 6:37am at the North’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in the northwest, carrying the Malligyong-1 satellite. The rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast after it lost thrust following the separation of its first and second stages.

South Korea’s military said the North Korean rocket had “an abnormal flight” before it fell in the water. Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that no object was believed to have reached space.

“It is impressive when the North Korean regime actually admits failure, but it would be difficult to hide the fact of a satellite launch failure internationally, and the regime will likely offer a different narrative domestically,” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said. “This outcome also suggests that Pyongyang may stage another provocation soon, in part to make up for today’s setback.” Officials from the US, Japan, South Korea held a phone call, where they “strongly condemned” the launch because it used banned ballistic missile technology, raised tensions, and risked destabilising security in the region and beyond.