North Korea’s Failed Attempt

North Korea announced on Thursday that its second attempt to launch a spy satellite in three months has failed and vowed to try again next October, drawing widespread international condemnation.

The National Aerospace Development Administration of North Korea, North Korea’s state-run news agency, reported that it “carried out the second launch of the Malegyong-1 reconnaissance satellite using the state-of-the-art Cholima-1 rocket at the Sohae Cosmodrome in Cheolsan District, North Pyongan. Provinces.”

She added: “The flight of the rocket on the first and second stages was normal, but the launch did not take place due to an error in the emergency operating system on the third stage.”

It noted that “the cause of the accident is not a serious problem” and Pyongyang will launch a third launch in October after corrective action is taken.

For its part, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced in a statement that around 3:50 a.m. (1850 GMT on Wednesday) it had detected the launch of “what North Korea claims to be a space rocket.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned North Korea’s attempt, as did foreign ministers from the G7 major industrialized nations, saying Pyongyang used banned ballistic missile technology in the attempt.

Prior to this, the South Korean government held a meeting of the National Security Council at which it condemned the launch, stressing that North Korea was “wasting its meager resources on irrational provocations, blaming petty officials for the economic situation that drives people to starvation and death.”

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated, “This time we made sure that no satellite was placed into Earth orbit during the launch process, and therefore we consider it a failure. But this behavior violates the resolutions of the United Nations, and we strongly protested” against this.

Earlier, Kishida said the missile passed through Japanese airspace over the Okinawa archipelago.

Pyongyang notified the Japanese Coast Guard on Tuesday that it plans to launch the satellite between Aug. 24 and Aug. 31, prompting Tokyo to mobilize ships and put its Pac-3 missile defense system on alert in case a missile hits its territory.

Seoul called the launch “illegal” because it violated UN sanctions preventing North Korea from testing ballistic technology needed for both space and rocket launches.

A Swift and Strong International Response

In a joint G7 statement, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and the European Union said North Korea’s move “poses a grave threat to regional and international peace and stability.”

“Despite repeated calls from the international community, North Korea continues to step up its escalation efforts with a record number of ballistic missile launches,” the statement said.

The G7 believes the attempt proves “North Korea’s determination to develop and diversify its illicit nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities.”

Member states added that “North Korea’s reckless behavior must be met with a swift, cohesive and strong international response, in particular from the UN Security Council.”

For his part, Guterres considered North Korea’s attempt a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

“Every North Korean launch using ballistic missile technology violates UN Security Council resolutions,” spokeswoman Florencia Soto Nino said.

“The Secretary General reiterates his call for North Korea to end such practices and resume dialogue without preconditions to achieve a lasting peace and comprehensive denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” she added.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made putting a spy satellite into orbit his top priority, saying it’s a necessary balance to the growing US military presence in the region.

The launch came after the leaders of the United States, South Korea and Japan held a summit at Camp David on the North’s nuclear threat.
The operation coincided with the massive U.S.-South Korean Ulchi Freedom Shield maneuvers that began on Monday and will continue until August 31. Both countries said the exercises were aimed at countering growing threats from North Korea.

On May 31, Pyongyang launched its first military reconnaissance satellite, Malegyong-1, but the Chollima-1 rocket it was carrying fell into the sea minutes after launch.

After a complex operation that lasted 36 days at sea, the South Korean army was able to recover parts of the rocket and satellite. After studying by South Korean and American experts, the South Korean Ministry of Defense decided that the satellite “has no military value.”

International Institute for Strategic Studies researcher Joseph Dempsey said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that the launch operation “was unsuccessful, but the flight lasted a longer period than the previous attempt.”

He highlighted the complexity of space launches, emphasizing that failure and learning “are often part of the development that ultimately leads to successful projects.”