North Korea launches satellite for the second time but fails

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying that North Korea launched the Chollima-1 rocket carrying the Malligyong-1 spy satellite in the early morning of August 24 but failed.

The cause was a malfunction in the third stage of the rocket. KCNA said that "it was not a major problem in terms of the reliability of the stage engines and systems".

The North Korean National Aerospace Administration plans to investigate the cause of the accident and will attempt to launch a satellite again in October, according to KCNA. A few days ago, North Korea informed Japan that it would launch a satellite, similar to the previous attempt.

Japan's emergency response system was activated at 4 a.m. local time after the launch this morning, Reuters reported. Residents in the southern prefecture of Okinawa were urged to stay indoors. About 20 minutes later, authorities announced that the missile had flown over and headed toward the Pacific Ocean , and lifted the warning.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on television that the missile launches were a threat to regional security. He said Tokyo would condemn Pyongyang in the strongest terms. He also reported that missile fragments fell into the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

South Korea's military condemned the launch, saying it violated a United Nations Security Council resolution banning North Korea from using ballistic missile technology.

The US State Department also said North Korea's launch violated multiple UN Security Council resolutions and stressed that Washington wanted to talk to North Korea without preconditions.

North Korea also launched its first spy satellite in late May, but it failed. At a meeting in June attended by leader Kim Jong-un, North Korea called it the most serious shortcoming in the first half of 2023 and one that could not be ignored.