North Korea's launch of its first spy satellite ended in failure as the rocket plunged into the sea shortly after launch. From the Associated Press:
"The newly developed Chollima-1 rocket was launched at 6:37 a.m. at the North’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in the northwest, carrying the Malligyong-1 satellite. The rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast after it lost thrust following the separation of its first and second stages, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
South Korea’s military said the North Korean rocket had 'an abnormal flight' before it fell in the water. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that no object was believed to have reached space.
North Korean media said the country’s space agency will investigate what it calls 'the serious defects revealed' by the launch and conduct a second launch as soon as possible." (our emphasis)
You can bet that there will be deadly repercussions for the managers of that defective launch, since it was widely promoted by the regime as a major event. The failed launch also set off alarms in South Korea and Japan, where residents briefly took shelter.
In launching the satellite, North Korea again violated international resolutions that ban use of ballistic technology by the regime. With every launch, North Korea is gaining knowledge of long-range ballistic missile technology of the kind that could enable it to build intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching North America.
