North Korea’s Second Spy Satellite Launch Stumbles to Failure

Three months after its first launch, which crashed into the sea, North Korea’s second effort to launch a spy satellite into orbit has failed.

According to official media, the attempt on Thursday morning failed during the third stage of its flight. A surveillance satellite would enable North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to better plan his own assaults and keep an eye on any impending ones.

The space agency in Pyongyang has claimed it will try once more in October. The rocket was launched at roughly 3:50 a.m. local time (18:35:00 GMT), according to South Korea, and it passed through international airspace over the Yellow Sea between the Chinese mainland and the Korean peninsula.

Minutes after the launch, the southernmost prefecture of Japan, Okinawa, issued an emergency warning advising citizens to seek shelter inside. After around 20 minutes, the alert was canceled.

Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, denounced the launch and declared: “Behaviour like this goes against the UN resolutions and we’re already firmly protesting.”

The US encouraged Pyongyang to engage in meaningful negotiations and asked North Korea to stop from “further threatening activity”.

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Setbacks and the Path to Progress

 

Although Pyongyang will have been disappointed by Thursday’s failure, it seems like they’ve made progress.

According to a news article published by the state-run KCNA, the malfunction was caused by “an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight” and was “not a big issue”.

It appears that the satellite’s rocket traveled farther than it did during the prior attempt. The aborted attempt in May was referred to by Pyongyang officials as their “gravest failure” but they promised to try again.

Mr. Kim will probably keep trying until he succeeds. He has already moved forward with his weapons program while turning down any invitations to dialogue with the US.

The launch on Thursday occurred only days after the US, Japan, and South Korean leaders gathered in Washington for a historic summit. Also, it comes after the start of the yearly military drills between Washington and Seoul.

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Source: BBC