Failed launch: A man walking past a television screen showing a North Korean missile test. — AFP
Seoul: North Korea said its second attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit failed yesterday, three months after the first one crashed into the ocean.
Leader Kim Jong-un has made the development of a military eye in the sky a top priority, with his nuclear-armed country claiming it is a necessary counterbalance to growing regional activity by US forces.
The National Aerospace Development Administration (Nada) “conducted the second launch of reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1” yesterday the official Korean Central News Agency said.
“The launch failed due to an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight,” Nada said.
It added that the problem was “not a big issue” and that it would attempt another launch in October.
The South Korean military said it detected the launch of the purported space rocket and that it flew over the Yellow Sea.
It added that a search and retrieval operation for the wreckage had begun.
South Korea’s National Security Council slammed yesterday’s launch and North Korea’s earlier attempt in May, saying Pyongyang was “squandering scarce resources on reckless provocations while blaming lower officials for the economic situation that is driving its people to starvation and death”. — AFP
