North Korea promises another attempt to launch spy satellite | World News

Pyongyang will soon “properly” put a spy satellite into orbit, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Thursday, a day after their first attempt crashed.

Read it here: North Korean satellite crashes into sea due to rocket failure

Pyongyang has positioned its military satellites as a necessary counterbalance to a growing U.S. military presence in the region, pointing to Washington’s ongoing joint exercises with Seoul as an example.

North Korea’s new Chollima-1 rocket lost thrust Wednesday and crashed into the ocean with its satellite payload, North Korea’s state media said in a rare announcement on the same day after the failed launch.

Kim Yo Jong, who also serves as the regime’s spokesman, said a second attempt would be made soon.

“It is certain that North Korea’s military reconnaissance satellite will properly enter space orbit and begin its mission in the near future,” she said on Thursday, referring to North Korea by its official name.

Pyongyang also released photos of what it said were new Chollima-1 rockets launching from a seaside launch site surrounded by flames and smoke.

The rocket — named after a mythical winged horse often featured in Pyongyang’s propaganda — has a bulbous nose apparently designed to carry satellite payloads.

The United States, South Korea and Japan slammed the launch, saying it violated a United Nations resolution banning Pyongyang from conducting any tests using ballistic missile technology.

Kim Yo Jong said such criticism was “contradictory” given that the US and other countries had launched “thousands of satellites”.

“The U.S. is a group of bandits who claim that it is illegal and threatening even for North Korea to launch a satellite into orbit by balloon,” she said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

Analysts warn that if North Korea succeeds, the satellite’s surveillance capabilities will become a major issue, allowing Pyongyang to more accurately target U.S. and South Korean forces.

“The use of satellites for military purposes includes reconnaissance (intelligence gathering), global positioning information and attacking opponents’ satellites. Space warfare,” retired South Korean army general Jeon In-beom told AFP.

Read it here: North Korea ‘launched ballistic missile’ in violation of UN resolution: Japan

North Korea has stepped up its military development since a failed diplomatic effort in 2019, conducting a series of banned weapons tests, including multiple intercontinental ballistic missile launches.

Leader Kim declared last year that his country was an irreversible nuclear power and called for an exponential increase in weapons production, including tactical nuclear weapons.