LAST UPDATE | 23 Aug 2023

North Korea today said that its second attempt in months to put a spy satellite into orbit failed at the third launch stage. 

State media released a statement saying the error that caused the launch to fail was “not a big issue”. 

They promised a successful launch in October.  

“The flights of the first and second stages of the rocket were normal, but the launch failed due to an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

Earlier today South Korea’s military said that North Korea fired a space launch vehicle, on day one of a window set by Pyongyang for its second attempt at putting a military satellite in orbit.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Pyongyang had fired “what the North claims is a space launch vehicle,” without offering further details.

The launch was first signaled by the Japanese government, which said the North had fired a suspected ballistic missile.

The Kyodo agency, citing the government in Tokyo, said the projectile had flown over Japanese territory.

Pyongyang told Japan’s coast guard yesterday that its launch would take place between 24 and 31 August, prompting Tokyo to mobilise ships and its PAC-3 missile defence system in case anything was to land in its territory.

Seoul said such a launch is “an illegal act” because it violates UN sanctions prohibiting the North from tests using ballistic technology, which is used for both space launches and missiles.

The launch came days after leaders from Washington, Seoul and Tokyo met at Camp David in the United States, with North Korea’s growing nuclear threats a key item on the agenda.

In May, Pyongyang launched what it described as its first military reconnaissance satellite, but the rocket carrying it, the “Chollima-1″ – named after a mythical horse that often features in official propaganda – plunged into the sea minutes after takeoff.

- © AFP 2023