Purported N.Korean ‘space launch vehicle’ falls into Yellow Sea after ‘abnormal’ flight

SEOUL: North Korea fired what it claims to be a “space launch vehicle” on Wednesday, but it fell into the Yellow Sea after an “abnormal” flight, the South Korean military said, in a botched launch that defied international criticism and warnings.

The North confirmed the failure, saying its new “Chollima-1” rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite, “Malligyong-1”, fell into the sea due to the “abnormal starting of the second-stage engine”. according to its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

It plans to conduct a second launch as soon as possible, Yonhap News Agency quoted the KCNA as saying.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from Tongchang-ri on the North’s west coast at 6.29 a.m. and the projectile fell into waters some 200 km west of the South’s southwestern island of Eocheong following its flight over the waters far west of the border island of Baengnyeong.

The South Korean military identified an apparent part of the North’s vehicle and retrieved it, the JCS added.

The North notified Japan and the International Maritime Organization of its plan earlier this week to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11 despite criticism that it would violate UN Security Council resolutions banning any launch using ballistic missile technology.

The reclusive regime last launched a rocket carrying what it called a “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite in February 2016.

On Tuesday, Ri Pyong-Chol, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, made the launch plan official, defending its pursuit of the satellite and other reconnaissance means as “indispensable” to cope with “dangerous military acts of the US and South Korea”.

The rocket launch marks the North’s first such provocation since it fired what it claimed to be a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile on April 13.

The North previously launched what it called a satellite-carrying rocket five times — one each in 1998, 2009 and 2016, and twice in 2012.

The country claimed to have put a satellite into orbit after its launch in December 2012 and 2016.

But it remains unknown whether they have been functioning normally.