North Korea launched a military spy satellite Wednesday, but it crashed into the sea soon after as an “accident occurred” during its flight, state media said.
Posted BY: Jasmine | NwoReport
Pyongyang does not have a functioning satellite in space and leader Kim Jong Un has made developing a military spy satellite a top priority for his regime, personally overseeing some launch preparations.
North Korean space authorities “launched a military reconnaissance satellite, ‘Malligyong-1’, mounted on a new-type carrier rocket, ‘Chollima-1’, at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in Cholsan County of North Phyongan Province at 6:27 on May 31,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
But the rocket crashed into the sea “after losing thrust due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine after the separation of the first stage during the normal flight,” it said.
Authorities will “thoroughly investigate the serious defects revealed in the satellite launch, take urgent scientific and technological measures to overcome them, and conduct the second launch as soon as possible”.
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South Korea’s military had detected the launch of the satellite, which it said disappeared from radar early and fell into the sea due to abnormal flight, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
North Korea on Tuesday confirmed it planned to launch what it called “military reconnaissance satellite No. 1” before June 11, having told Japan of its plans a day earlier.
Tokyo and Seoul strongly criticized the proposed launch, which they said would violate UN sanctions barring Pyongyang from any tests involving ballistic missile technology.
Because long-range rockets and space launchers share the same technology, analysts say developing the ability to put a satellite in orbit would provide Pyongyang with cover for testing banned intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
Soon after the launch, Seoul city authorities sent an emergency text message alert to residents saying: “Citizens, please prepare to evacuate and allow children and the elderly to evacuate first” as an air raid siren sounded in central Seoul.
The alert prompted consternation and confusion on Twitter before Seoul’s interior ministry minutes later said the alert had been “incorrectly issued”.
