North Korea says launch of latest spy satellite failed, but will try again

SEOUL/TOKYO, Aug 24 (Reuters) – North Korea’s second attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit failed on Thursday after the rocket’s propellant experienced a problem during its third stage, state media reported, as space authorities They promised to try again in October.

His first attempt in May also ended in failure when the new Chollima-1 rocket crashed in the ocean.

The pre-dawn launch came in the early hours of an eight-day window North Korea had given for the attempt.

The nuclear-armed country has been trying to put what would be its first military spy satellite into orbit, saying it eventually plans a fleet of satellites to monitor US and South Korean troop movements.

“The flights of the first and second stages of the rocket were normal, but the launch failed due to an error in the emergency explosion system during the flight of the third stage,” state news agency KCNA said of Thursday’s launch. .

The South Korean military said it had tracked the flight since its launch at the North’s Sohae Satellite Launch Center and also concluded it was a failure.

The launch triggered an emergency warning in Japan shortly before 4 a.m. local time (1900 GMT) via the J-alert broadcast system, asking residents of Okinawa’s southernmost prefecture to take shelter at home.

About 20 minutes after the alert, the Japanese government sent notice that the missile had crossed the Pacific Ocean and lifted the emergency warning.

In a televised news conference, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the repeated missile launches were a threat to regional security.

“We will strongly protest North Korea and condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” ​​he said.

Matsuno said parts of the rocket fell into the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

South Korea’s National Security Council condemned the launch as a provocation and a violation of UN Security Council resolutions banning the North’s use of ballistic missile technology.

North Korea’s attempted satellite launch violates multiple UN Security Council resolutions, the US State Department said late Wednesday, urging North Korea to refrain from “new threatening activities “and calling on Pyongyang to engage in serious diplomacy.

“Space Launch Vehicles (SLVs) incorporate technologies that are identical to and interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs),” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.

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North Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) said it would investigate and take action to fix the cause of Thursday’s failure, but that it is “not a big problem” in terms of the overall reliability of the rocket system.

“NADA expressed its position that it would carry out the third reconnaissance satellite launch in October after thoroughly investigating the reason and taking action,” KCNA reported.

North Korea’s May 31 attempt to launch the Chollima-1 satellite rocket also failed, as the propellant and payload sank into the sea after second-stage failure. State media blamed the setback on an unstable and unreliable new engine and fuel system.

South Korea recovered parts of that failed rocket, including the satellite’s payload, which it said did not appear to be military-capable.

It wasn’t a huge surprise that Thursday’s launch appeared to have failed as well, but the state media report suggests North Korea has made some progress since the May crash, said Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, based in USA.

“It appears that there are still time pressures for NADA to succeed given the commitment to do a follow-up launch in October,” he added. “That may or may not buy enough time for North Korean scientists to go back to the drawing board and repeat one more time.”

The secretive North views its military rocket and space programs as its sovereign right, and analysts say spy satellites are crucial to improve the effectiveness of their weapons.

North Korea has made multiple attempts to launch “Earth observation” satellites, two of which appeared to have been successfully placed in orbit, including in 2016.

International observers have said the 2016 satellite appeared to be under control, but debate persisted over whether it had sent any transmissions.

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