North Korea says its second attempt to launch a spy satellite has failed, vows a third attempt

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Thursday its second attempt to launch a spy satellite had failed, but vowed to make a third attempt in October.

The announcement followed a statement by the South Korean military that North Korea had launched a long-range rocket.

The North Korean space agency said it used the new Chollima-1 carrier rocket to launch the Malligyong-1 reconnaissance satellite into orbit. He said the flights of the first and second stages of the rocket were normal, but the launch ultimately failed due to an error in the emergency explosion system during the flight of the third stage, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The space agency said it would make a third launch attempt in October after studying what went wrong with Thursday’s launch. The agency added that “the cause of the accident in question is not a big problem in terms of the reliability of the cascaded motors and the system.”

Earlier Thursday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that it detected the rocket flying over international waters off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula after liftoff in the Tongchang-ri area of ​​northwestern China. North, at 3:50 am. The main space launch center is located. North Korea conducted a failed spy satellite launch there in late May.

The South Korean military said it had strengthened its surveillance posture and was in close coordination with the United States.

On May 31, a North Korean rocket carrying a spy satellite sank into the sea shortly after liftoff, dealing a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s attempt to set up a space surveillance system to better monitor the United States and South Korea. Since then, North Korea had vowed to make a second try.

After the first launch attempt, North Korea admitted failure unusually quickly, saying its newly developed Chollima-1 rocket lost thrust between launch stages and crashed into the sea. Leaders of North Korea’s ruling party described the failed launch as a serious setback to the country’s efforts to bolster its military capabilities amid tensions with rivals.

The South Korean military recovered some of the debris after the failed launch and said in early July that the North Korean satellite was not advanced enough for military reconnaissance.

South Korea, the United States and others have still condemned the May launch as raising tensions and violating UN Security Council resolutions that barred the country from using ballistic missile technology.

Thursday’s launch came three days after the US and South Korean militaries began annual military exercises that North Korea calls an invasion drill.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the 11-day exercises between the United States and South Korea are raising the danger of nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula. He said the current situation is forcing North Korea to take “overwhelming and offensive” measures, but did not elaborate.

South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers last week that it detected signs that North Korea is preparing for test flights of intercontinental ballistic missiles and other provocative weapons. On Monday, KCNA said Kim had observed the test firing of strategic cruise missiles.

Since early 2022, North Korea has tested around 100 missiles in a torrid series of military demonstrations. Along with the North’s testing activities, the combined US-South Korean military exercises have intensified recently in a tit-for-tat cycle.

North Korea says its weapons tests are part of efforts to strengthen its nuclear deterrent to counter growing US-led military threats. But many experts say North Korea is seeking to modernize its weapons arsenal to increase its influence and win further concessions from the United States.

A spy satellite is among a series of high-tech weapons systems that Kim has publicly promised to acquire.

After repeated failures, North Korea successfully launched its first satellite into orbit in 2012 and its second in 2016. North Korea said both are Earth observation satellites launched under its peaceful space development program, but many foreign experts believed that they were developed for spying. their rivals.

Observers say there has been no evidence that either satellite ever transmitted images to North Korea. But those satellite launches were still believed to have improved North Korea’s long-range missile technology.

Since 2017, North Korea has conducted a series of ICBM tests, demonstrating its potential ability to send missiles anywhere in the continental US. But experts say North Korea still has some technological hurdles to overcome before getting working nuclear missiles, such as making small warheads. enough to be finished off with missiles and ensure that those warheads withstand the severe conditions of re-entry.

The UN Security Council has imposed economic sanctions on North Korea for its satellite launches in previous years, viewing them as cover for long-range ballistic missile tests. But the UN council did not adopt further sanctions over North Korea’s recent series of missile launches because Russia and China, permanent veto-wielding members, oppose them, underscoring a division that has deepened over the war in Russia against Ukraine.