NORTH KOREA — Leader Kim Jong Un's push to strengthen North Korea's military capability suffered a major setback on Wednesday when the country's attempt to launch its first spy satellite into space failed. The attempt, which was an obvious violation of UN Security Council resolutions, followed the missile tests in recent years that showed potential of reaching all of the continental US.
Despite an unusually quick admission of failure, the North Korean regime vowed to conduct a second launch, making it clear that their leader remains determined to expand his weapons arsenal and apply more pressure to the US and South Korea while diplomacy is stalled. The focus of the second launch would be to pinpoint what went wrong and rectify the failure during the first launch.
South Korea and Japan briefly urged residents to take shelter during the launch, indicating how tense the situation remains in the region as well as the instability that could arise as a result of North Korea's military ambitions. AP News reports.
Following the launch, South Korea recovered an object presumed to be part of the crashed North Korean rocket in waters 124 miles southwest of the island of Eocheongdo. The Defense Ministry released photos of a white, metal cylinder, presumed to be a rocket part.
Observers say previous satellite launches conducted by North Korea helped improve its long-range missile technology. The missile tech, when developed, would be very effective in the present political climate where tensions are high between the US and North Korea.
The newly developed Chollima-1 rocket was launched at 6:37 a.m. from the North's Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in the northwest, carrying a Malligyong-1 satellite. The rocket crashed in the water after it lost thrust following the separation of its first and second stages, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.
Despite the political ramifications of the launch and failure, some experts have presented alternative views that the launch failure could lead to another provocation by the North Korean regime, especially as it hopes to make up for the setback.
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