North Korea’s latest attempt to launch a spy satellite into orbit ended with a mid-air explosion, Pyongyang said Monday night, hours after Seoul and Tokyo criticized the announcement of a planned launch.
Japanese broadcaster NHK showed footage of what appeared to be a projectile burning in the night sky, which then exploded and turned into a fireball. According to NHK, the footage was filmed in northeast China at the same time as the launch attempt.
The satellite “exploded in the air during the first flight stage and failed to launch,” the North’s National Aerospace Technology Administration said in a statement.
Cause of the Explosion
An “expert review concluded that the cause of the accident was the operational reliability of the newly developed liquid oxygen and oil engine,” the statement, carried by the official Korean Central news agency, added.
Putting a spy satellite into orbit has long been a top priority for Kim Jong-un’s regime. It was claimed in November that he had succeeded last year after two failed attempts. North Korea says the Malligyong-1 (Telescope-1) satellite it launched into orbit in November is operating successfully, but Seoul’s intelligence services reject the claim.
Seoul says Kim received technical assistance from Russia for the launch in exchange for delivering weapon containers to Moscow for use in Ukraine.
Criticism from Seoul and Tokyo
Pyongyang had already informed Japan on Monday of its intention to put another satellite into orbit, sparking criticism in Seoul and Tokyo, which urged Kim to cancel the plan.
The South Korean military said it had detected the launch but that the satellite “is presumed to have exploded in the air”.
“The South Korean and US intelligence authorities are analysing it in detail in close cooperation,” the South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said.
UN Resolutions and Ballistic Technology
Nuclear-armed North Korea is prohibited from testing its ballistic technology under several UN resolutions, and analysts say there is significant technological overlap between space launch capabilities and ballistic missile development.
The launch “is a provocative act that clearly violates the UN security council resolution prohibiting the use of ballistic missile technology,” South Korea’s military said.
The US Indo-Pacific Command called the launch a “brazen violation of multiple unanimous UN security council resolutions”, and said in a statement that it “risks destabilising the security situation in the region and beyond”.
Japan briefly issued an alert on Monday warning residents of southern Okinawa prefecture to seek refuge in emergency shelters, but it was lifted minutes later.
Regional Reactions and Security Concerns
The launch attempt came just hours after Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo concluded their first trilateral summit since 2019.
According to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, launching a new satellite would “undermine regional and global peace and stability”.
According to experts, spy satellites could improve North Korea’s ability to gather intelligence, particularly about South Korea, and provide crucial data in any military conflict.
Last September Kim met with President Vladimir Putin in Russia, and the latter suggested that his country could help Pyongyang build satellites.
Seoul and Washington subsequently accused Pyongyang of supplying weapons to Moscow, and South Korea said earlier this year that Pyongyang had sent thousands of weapons containers to Russia for use in Ukraine.
Citing a government official, Yonhap reported on Sunday that a group of Russian engineers entered North Korea to help with launch preparations.