SEOUL: A North Korean satellite launch on Wednesday failed, sending the rocket and payload crashing into the ocean, according to North Korean official media.
The South Korean military claimed to have retrieved some of the launch vehicle’s components.
According to state news agency KCNA, the new “Chollima-1” satellite launch rocket failed due to engine and fuel system instability.
This was the nuclear-armed nation’s sixth attempt to launch a satellite and its first since 2016. The first spy satellite for North Korea was to be launched with it into orbit.
It led to emergency alarms and temporary evacuation advisories in certain areas of Japan and South Korea. No risk or harm was recorded, and the notifications were removed.
According to a statement made on Wednesday by South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military is reportedly carrying out a salvage operation to retrieve what are thought to be pieces of the space launch vehicle. Pictures of debris recovered from the sea were released by the military.
In a phone call, representatives from the US, Japan, and South Korea “strongly condemned” the launch, according to the foreign ministry of Japan.
“The three countries wouldll stay vigilant with a high sense of urgency”, the statement said.
To better track American military actions, North Korea has previously stated that it will launch its first military surveillance satellite between May 31 and June 11.
China sent three astronauts to its space station on Tuesday as part of crew rotation, and South Korea launched satellites into orbit last week for the first time with a locally developed and manufactured rocket.
According to an unusually direct North Korean acknowledgement of a technical failure, the rocket lost thrust “after losing thrust due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine,” according to KCNA.
The National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) of Pyongyang will look into the “serious defects” and take steps to fix them before carrying out a second launch as soon as is practical, according to KCNA.
WARNINGS ISSUED
North Korea stated the launch would transport the rocket south, with stages and other debris anticipated to fall over the Yellow Sea and into the Pacific Ocean, according to information supplied to foreign authorities.
Around 6:32 a.m. (2132 GMT Tuesday), air raid sirens blasted throughout Seoul, the capital of South Korea, alerting residents to possible evacuation. Later warnings claimed that the city warning was incorrect.
Seoul’s calm swiftly returned, and the won currency and South Korean equities (.KS11) also traded stronger.
On Wednesday morning, the Japanese government further aired a J-Alert emergency alert advising Okinawans in the southern prefecture to seek shelter inside.
It later said that the rocket would not fly into Japanese territory and lifted the warnings.