North Korea's spy satellite launch fails as rocket falls into sea

Seen above is an apparent component of a projectile launched by North Korea, Wednesday. The part was found in waters about 200 kilometers west of Eocheong Island, which is some 60 kilometers southwest of Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it retrieved the part for further analysis. Courtesy of JCS

Pyongyang vows to carry out another launch

By Nam Hyun-woo

North Korea fired what it claims to be "a space launch vehicle," Wednesday, but it fell into the West Sea after "an abnormal flight."

Quickly admitting the failure, an unusual move by the reclusive state, Pyongyang vowed to conduct a second launch in the near future.

According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), it detected a projectile launched from Tongchang-ri in North Pyongan Province at 6:29 a.m., which fell into waters approximately 200 kilometers west of South Korea's southwestern island of Eocheong, which is some 60 kilometers southwest of Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.

The JCS said the projectile "fell into the waters after an abnormal flight" and the South Korean military retrieved several parts of the North Korean vehicle, including what was assumed to be a link between the first and second stages of the rocket.

About two and a half hours later, after, the launch, the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) confirmed that it had launched its new Chollima-1 rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite, the Malligyong-1, and the rocket fell into the sea "after losing thrust due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine after the separation of the first stage during the normal flight."

Citing the North's National Aerospace Development Administration spokesperson, the KCNA said the failure was attributable to "the low reliability and stability of the new-type engine system applied to carrier rocket Chollima-1 and the unstable character of the fuel used."

It continued that the aerospace administration will "conduct the second launch as soon as possible" after investigating defects revealed in the launch.

"It is likely that the North will conduct a second launch before June 11, which is within the period of time of the country's prior notification made earlier this week," said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

On Monday, North Korea notified Japan of its plans to put its first military reconnaissance satellite in geosynchronous orbit between May 31 and June 11.

"If there were problems in the satellite, it will take time for a second launch, but if the root cause of the failure was in stage separation of the rocket ― as the KCNA report said ― chances are high that the North has prepared a number of spare launch vehicles, given that the regime has been testing multiple launch vehicles for intercontinental ballistic missiles," Hong added.

Kim's sister says NK will 'correctly' place spy satellite into orbit soon after failed launch 2023-06-01 08:14  |  North Korea Chronology of major events leading to NK's 1st spy satellite launch attempt 2023-05-31 14:31  |  North Korea Failed NK space rocket launch shows both technological challenges, growing space ambitions: analysts 2023-05-31 15:11  |  North Korea History is on North Korea's side as it test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile on Feb. 27 last year, announcing that it carried out an important test to develop a reconnaissance satellite, and then it launched another, March 5 when it made a similar statement.

"Along with that, the political pressure that the North's rocket engineers are facing is likely to prompt the regime to prepare for a second launch in a hurry," Hong said.

"North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been paying his attention to the spy satellite program since the eighth Congress of its Workers' Party in 2021, and having no results from the satellite program means humiliation for the regime."

The extremely quick admission of the failure as well as the revelation of the cause of the failure is regarded as a rare case for the North Korean regime.

Since North Korea launched its first reconnaissance satellite, the Kwangmyongsong-1, in 1998, the country has launched what it claimed were rockets carrying satellites on seven occasions, but it had barely acknowledged any failures in those launches before Wednesday.

Of those launches, the North managed to place into satellite orbit the Kwangmyongsong-3 Unit 2 in 2012 and the Kwangmyongsong-4 in 2016. The satellites are still in orbit, according to live satellite tracker website N2YO.com, but they are assumed not to be operating because their signal transmissions with Earth have not been detected.

"North Korea has already informed the International Maritime Organization about the satellite launch, so it seems that the North sought to improve its credibility within the international community by announcing the failure and revealing the reasons like a normal country," Hong said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter Ju-ae leave a research institute after inspecting the North's National Aerospace Development Administration, April 18, in this photo revealed by Pyongyang's Korean Central Television the following day. Yonhap

Political aftermath

Although the launch ended in failure, it was followed by strong condemnation from the international community.

South Korea's National Security Council (NSC) called the rocket launch "a grave violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions" and a serious provocation, threatening peace on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.

"Also, the participants agreed to maintain a coordination posture with allies and friendly nations while continuing to carefully monitor the possibility of North Korea's additional launches," the NSC said in a statement.

Adam Hodge, a spokesperson of the White House National Security Council, also said in a statement that the U.S. "strongly condemns the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for its launch using ballistic missile technology, which is a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, raising tensions and that it risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond."

North Korea nuclear envoys from Seoul, Tokyo and Washington also issued a strong condemnation. Seoul's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Gunn, and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, had a conference call after Pyongyang announced the launch, and urged the North to stop its provocations and return to talks for denuclearization.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also released a statement criticizing the North for using ballistic missile technology, which is contrary to the relevant Security Council resolutions.