North Korea’s launch of what it claims to be military spy satellite ends up multiple pieces of debris: South Korean military

North Korea fired what it claims to be a military spy satellite Monday, but the projectile ended up as multiple pieces of debris shortly after launch, South Korea’s military said, an apparent indication that Pyongyang’s satellite launch plan ended in failure.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the suspected satellite-carrying rocket being launched in a southward direction over the West Sea from the Tongchang-ri area in the country’s northwest at about 10:44 p.m.

The projectile, however, was detected as multiple pieces of debris in the country’s waters two minutes later, the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters, noting that a detailed analysis is under way between the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States about whether the projectile flew normally.

Pyongyang had earlier notified Japan that it will launch a satellite sometime before June 4 and designated three areas, where rocket debris will fall, as a precaution for safety. The liftoff came on the first day of the eight-day launch window.

The launch also came after President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang held a trilateral summit in Seoul on Monday and reaffirmed their commitment to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.

During the summit, Yoon and Kishida also urged the North to call off the launch plan.

If confirmed, it would mark the North’s latest satellite launch attempt after the country successfully put its first military spy satellite into orbit in November last year after two unsuccessful attempts in May and August, respectively.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to send three more spy satellites into orbit in 2024.

The North’s space rocket launches have drawn condemnation from Seoul, Washington and others, as they violate U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from launches using ballistic missile technology.

Ahead of the latest launch, the South’s military on Monday warned it would take “powerful” measures in response to the North’s launch plan and staged air drills, involving advanced fighter jets, near the inter-Korean border in a show of force.

The November launch had ratcheted up tensions between the two Koreas and prompted the South to partially suspend a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement.

The North in turn vowed to restore all measures halted under the peace deal, and has rebuilt demolished guard posts inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas and installed mines on rare cross-border roads.

The latest launch also comes amid concerns over deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow after a rare summit between the North’s leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Russian spaceport last September, where Putin pledged to help the North to build satellites.

South Korean officials have said Pyongyang has supplied weapons to Moscow to fuel its war on Ukraine in return for food, other necessities and technological assistance, raising concern over possible developments to the North’s military programs.

A military spy satellite is among the list of advanced weapons the North vowed to develop at a key party congress in 2021, which also includes solid-fuel ICBMs, a nuclear-powered submarine and hypersonic weapons.

South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, however, has said the North’s satellite launched last year appears to be orbiting Earth without activity, suggesting that it is not functioning properly.

Seoul has also sought to bolster its independent reconnaissance capabilities, launching two military satellites into orbit last December and last month, respectively, as part of efforts to acquire five spy satellites by 2025 to better monitor North Korea. (Yonhap)