North Korea’s attempt to launch a spy satellite on Monday failed when the rocket exploded in mid-air. It was launched just hours after Pyongyang issued a warning about the rocket, which would have been its second spy satellite in orbit.
However, this rocket launched by North Korea exploded in the air. Earlier in November last year, North Korea had successfully launched one of its spy rockets into orbit. “The launch of a new satellite carrier rocket failed when the first stage exploded in mid-air,” the deputy director general of North Korea’s National Aerospace Technology Administration said in a report published by state media.
According to the report, initial investigations revealed that the cause of the rocket explosion was fuel entering the rocket motor, but there could be other causes, which are being investigated. Officials in South Korea and Japan had previously said the launch was a failure.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said North Korea fired a projectile southward from its west coast at about 10:44 p.m. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that the object launched by North Korea disappeared into the Yellow Sea.
“This launch is a violation of relevant Security Council resolutions and a serious matter concerning the security of our people,” Hayashi said. A State Department spokesman said the United States condemned the launch, “which involved technologies directly related to the DPRK’s ballistic missile program and violated multiple UN Security Council resolutions.”
The launch came hours after China, South Korea and Japan concluded a rare three-way summit in Seoul. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called on North Korea not to proceed with the launch. Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang did not mention the launch, but called on all parties to reduce tensions on the peninsula.