The state-controlled North Korean media reported on the failed launch attempt: The carrier rocket with the “Malligyong-1” reconnaissance satellite was lifted off from a rocket launch site in North Pyongan province on Thursday night. After that, however, there was a technical problem with the propulsion system of the third rocket stage, which is why the planned flight into space failed.
Missile launch triggers emergency alert in Japan
The South Korean military said it followed the missile’s flight and also concluded that it was a false launch. In Japan, the rocket launch triggered an emergency alert shortly before 4 a.m. local time/1900 GMT. Residents in southernmost Okinawa Prefecture have been urged to take shelter in their homes. About 20 minutes after the warning, the Japanese government announced that the missile had reached the Pacific and lifted the warning.
A day earlier, North Korea had informed the Japanese Coast Guard that it was planning to launch another military satellite between August 24 and 31.
Japanese cabinet chef Hirokazu Matsuno said the repeated missile launches posed a threat to regional security. “We will protest sharply and condemn North Korea in the strongest terms,” he said on Japanese television. Parts of the rocket fell into the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the Pacific.
Technology as in ICBM
The regime in Pyongyang had already failed on May 31 with the first attempt to send a spy satellite into space. The satellite launcher “Cheollima-1” crashed into the sea shortly after launch. South Korean forces were able to salvage parts of the wreckage and, in a joint analysis with the United States, concluded that the reconnaissance satellite was of “no military use whatsoever”.
According to experts, the technology of space missiles and ICBMs differs little. The USA and its allies South Korea and Japan had therefore condemned the failed missile launch in May. They accused North Korea’s leadership of using technology directly related to its ballistic missile program.
North Korea plans third launch attempt in October
UN resolutions ban North Korea from launching ballistic missiles of any range. Depending on the design, such rockets can be equipped with nuclear warheads. Despite this, North Korea intends to make a third attempt to put a satellite into orbit in October, according to the state news agency KCNA.
ww/wa (dpa, afp, rtr)
Source: DW
