After an unusually quick admission of failure, North Korea vowed to conduct a second launch
\nSEOUL
\nNorth Korea\u2019s attempt to put the country\u2019s first spy satellite into space failed Wednesday in a setback to leader Kim Jong Un\u2019s push to boost his military capabilities as tensions with the United States and South Korea rise.
\nAfter an unusually quick admission of failure, North Korea vowed to conduct a second launch after learning what went wrong with its rocket liftoff. It suggests Kim remains determined to expand his weapons arsenal and apply more pressure on Washington and Seoul while diplomacy is stalled.
\nSouth Korea and Japan briefly urged residents to take shelter during the launch.
\nThe South Korean military said it was salvaging an object presumed to be part of the crashed North Korean rocket in waters 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of the southwestern island of Eocheongdo. Later, the Defense Ministry released photos of a white, metal cylinder it described as a suspected rocket part.
\nA 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\u2019s previous satellite launches helped improve its long-range 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.
\nThe newly developed Chollima-1 rocket was launched at 6:37 a.m. at the North\u2019s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in the northwest, carrying the Malligyong-1 satellite. The rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula\u2019s western coast after it lost thrust following the separation of its first and second stages, the North\u2019s official Korean Central News Agency said.
\nSouth Korea\u2019s military said the North Korean rocket had \u201can abnormal flight\u201d before it fell in the water. Japan\u2019s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that no object was believed to have reached space.
\nNorth Korean media said the country\u2019s space agency will investigate what it calls \u201cthe serious defects revealed\u201d by the launch and conduct a second launch as soon as possible.
\n\u201cIt 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,\u201d Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said. \u201cThis outcome also suggests that Pyongyang may stage another provocation soon, in part to make up for today\u2019s setback.\u201d
\nAdam Hodge, a spokesperson at the US National Security Council, said in a statement that Washington strongly condemns the North Korean launch because it used banned ballistic missile technology, raised tensions, and risked destabilizing security in the region and beyond.
\nThe UN imposed economic sanctions on North Korea over its previous satellite and ballistic missile launches, but has not responded to recent tests because China and Russia, permanent council members now locked in confrontations with the US, have blocked attempts to toughen sanctions.
\nSeoul\u2019s military said it boosted military readiness in coordination with the United States, and Japan said it prepared to respond to any emergency. The US said it will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and the defense of South Korea and Japan.
\nSouth Korea\u2019s capital, Seoul, issued alerts over public loudspeakers and cellphone text messages telling residents to prepare for evacuation after the launch was detected, and Japan activated a missile warning system for Okinawa prefecture in southwestern Japan, in the rocket\u2019s suspected path.
\n\u201cPlease evacuate into buildings or underground,\u201d the Japanese alert said.
\nJapanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Japan plans to keep missile defense systems deployed to its southern islands and in southwestern waters until June 11, which is the end of North Korea\u2019s announced launch window.
\nKCNA didn\u2019t provide details of the rocket and the satellite beyond their names. But experts earlier said North Korea would likely use a liquid-fueled rocket as most of its previously tested long-range rockets and missiles have done.
\nThough it plans a fuller investigation, the North\u2019s National Aerospace Development Administration attributed the failure to \u201cthe low reliability and stability of the new-type engine system applied to (the) carrier rocket\u201d and \u201cthe unstable character of the fuel,\u201d according to KCNA.
\nOn Tuesday, Ri Pyong Chol, a top North Korean official, said the North needed a space-based reconnaissance system to counter escalating security threats from South Korea and the United States.
\nHowever, the spy satellite disclosed in the country\u2019s state-run media earlier didn\u2019t appear to be sophisticated enough to produce high-resolution imagery. Some outside experts said it may still be able to detect troop movements and large targets such as warships and warplanes.
\nRecent commercial satellite imagery of the North\u2019s Sohae launch center showed active construction indicating North Korea plans to launch more than one satellite. In his Tuesday statement, Ri also said North Korea would test \u201cvarious reconnaissance means\u201d to monitor moves by the United States and its allies in real time.
\nWith three to five spy satellites, North Korea could build a space-based surveillance system that allows it to monitor the Korean Peninsula in near real-time, according to Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea\u2019s Science and Technology Policy Institute.
\nThe satellite is one of several high-tech weapons systems that Kim has publicly vowed to introduce. Other weapons on his wish list include a multi-warhead missile, a nuclear submarine, a solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile and a hypersonic missile. In his visit to the space agency in mid-May, Kim emphasized the strategic significance of a spy satellite in North Korea\u2019s standoff with the United States and South Korea.
\nEasley, the professor, said Kim has likely increased pressure on his scientists and engineers to launch the spy satellite as rival South Korea successfully launched its first commercial-grade satellite aboard the domestically-built Nuri rocket earlier this month.
\nSouth Korea is expected to launch its first spy satellite later this year, and analysts say Kim likely wants his country to launch its spy satellite before the South to reinforce his military credentials at home.
\nAfter repeated failures, North Korea successfully put its first satellite into orbit in 2012, and the second one in 2016. The government said both are Earth-observation satellites launched under its peaceful space development program, but many foreign experts believed both were developed to spy on rivals.
\nObservers say there has been no evidence that the satellites have ever transmitted imagery back to North Korea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After an unusually quick admission of failure, North Korea vowed to conduct a second launch SEOUL North Korea\u2019s attempt to put the country\u2019s first spy satellite into space failed Wednesday in a setback to leader Kim Jong Un\u2019s push to boost his military capabilities as tensions with the United States and South Korea rise. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-334641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n