Anchor: North Korea announced that its attempt to put a military spy satellite into orbit via a space launch vehicle has failed after the rocket experienced flight abnormalities. Even as South Korea, the U.S. and Japan all condemned the launch as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, the regime revealed plans for a second attempt.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: North Korea announced that the launch of its first military spy satellite on a space launch vehicle early Wednesday ended prematurely as it fell into the Yellow Sea after an abnormal flight.

Through the state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA), the National Aerospace Development Administration said it launched the new Chollima-1 rocket carrying the military spy satellite at 6:27 a.m. from the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in North Pyongan Province.

The KCNA said that the rocket fell into western waters after the first-stage separation due to a failure in the second-stage engine system.

The space agency added that it plans to attempt a second launch as soon as possible once scientific and technological steps are taken to overcome the grave defects.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it has recovered a part of the projectile that fell into waters roughly midway between South Korea and China, which appears to be a cylindrical connector linking the first and second-stage rockets.

After retrieving other debris, authorities are expected to verify the projectile's overall performance, foreign component composition, and the North's technological standards.

South Korea's National Security Council denounced Pyongyang's failed launch as a "long-range ballistic missile provocation," calling it a grave violation of UN Security Council(UNSC) resolutions that threatens peace and stability in the region and beyond.

The U.S. strongly condemned the North's latest move for utilizing technology directly related to its intercontinental ballistic missile program.

Japan said it lodged a strong protest against Pyongyang through its embassy in Beijing, while Washington and its allies are expected to seek an emergency UNSC session on the matter.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.