Troubled Driven Rocket, North Korea Again Fails To Launch Its Latest Spy Satellite

Illustration of North Korea. (Wikimedia Commons/Roman Harak)

JAKARTA - North Korea failed to launch its newest spy satellite into orbit on Thursday, after the booster rocket used had problems according to state media, but the country's space authorities pledged to retrial it next October.

The launch, which was carried out ahead of dawn, was the second attempt. Last May, North Korea's first attempt also failed, when the Chollima-1 rocket fell into the sea.

Pyongyang is known to be trying to put its first military spy satellite into orbit, saying it is planning a satellite fleet to monitor the movement of US and South Korean troops.

"The first and second stages of the launch were normal. But in the third stage, there was an error in the emergency blast system so the launch failed," KCNA said.

North Korea's National Aerospace Development Agency (NADA) said it would investigate and take steps to correct the cause of today's launch failure, saying it was not a big deal with the reliability of rocket systems as a whole.

"NADA stated its stance, will launch a third reconnaissance satellite in October, after thoroughly investigating its reasons and taking action," KCNA reported.

Meanwhile, South Korea's military said it had tracked the flight since its launch at North Korea's Sohae Satellite Launch Center, concluding that the flight had failed.

It said it was trying to find and potentially evacuate the rocket debris.

In Japan, the launch sparked an emergency warning before 4 am local time through the J-alert broadcast system, urging people in Okinawa Prefecture to take cover.

About 20 minutes after the warning, the Japanese government followed up with the notification that the rocket had passed and the emergency warning was lifted.

In a televised press conference, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the repeated missile launch was a threat to regional security.

"We will strongly protest against North Korea and condemn it as hard as it can," he stressed.

Matsuno said parts of the rocket fell into the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and Pacific Ocean.

Far away in America, the White House condemned the launch for violating several UN Security Council resolutions, while the US State Department urged North Korea to refrain from "further threat activities", calling on Pyongyang to engage in serious diplomacy.

"The space launch vehicle (SLV) uses identical and exchangeable technology with the technology used in ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)," a US State Department spokesman said in a statement.

North Korea considers its space program and military rockets to be the sovereign rights, with analysts saying spy satellites are critical to increasing the effectiveness of their weapons.

Pyongyang has made various efforts to launch "earth observations" satellites, two of which appear to have been successfully placed in orbit, including in 2016.