North's satellite launch sets off alarms, but ends in failure

North Korea’s first reconnaissance satellite crashed into the sea early Wednesday morning after the space launch vehicle’s (SLV) second-stage separation failed, according to Pyongyang's state media.

South Korean military forces retrieve a white metal cylinder that the Joint Chiefs of Staff believe was part of the North Korean space launch vehicle that crashed into the Yellow Sea on Wednesday morning. [JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF]

North Korea’s first reconnaissance satellite crashed into the sea early Wednesday morning after the space launch vehicle’s (SLV) second-stage separation failed, according to Pyongyang's state media.

The launch set off air raid sirens in Seoul and an emergency alert at 6:41 a.m. advising residents to take shelter, which in turn triggered alarms on mobile phones across the South Korean capital.

The Chollima-1 satellite launch rocket failed due to an “abnormal startup of the engine” during second-stage separation, the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an English-language report.

Long-range and space rockets feature several stages or sections stacked on top of each other, each with its own engine and propellant. Stages are jettisoned from bottom to top until the desired final velocity is reached.

The agency added that the North’s officials were examining the “grave defects” that caused the SLV to fail mid-flight.

But the KCNA report also said that the North Korean space agency will “conduct a second launch as soon as possible,” raising the specter of another SLV launch in the near future.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) told reporters that it detected the launch of a projectile from Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province, at 6:29 a.m. and that it “fell into the sea approximately 200 kilometers west of Eocheong Island,” located in the Yellow Sea 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of the North Jeolla coast.

Tongchang-ri is the site of the North’s Sohae Satellite Testing Ground, where the regime has previously launched long-range missiles and tested solid-fuel rocket engines.

According to an unnamed military official who spoke to reporters, the projectile disappeared from the South's radar systems before it reached the expected drop point of its trajectory.

The Defense Ministry later released photos of the South Korean military retrieving a white metal cylinder from the sea that it said was likely one of the components of the fallen North Korean SLV.

South Korean and U.S. Navy divers had conducted a joint dive and salvage exercise at a naval base in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, only a day before, according to the Pentagon, which released photos of the drill via its Defense Visual Information Distribution Service.

The U.S. rescue and salvage ship USNS Salvor also took part in the exercise, according to the U.S. military.

In comments to reporters on Wednesday after the National Intelligence Service briefed the parliamentary intelligence committee, People Power Party Rep. Yoo Sang-bum relayed the spy agency’s belief that the failure of the SLV's second-stage separation was the result of “an excessive trajectory adjustment” and launch preparations being rushed after the South successfully fired its Nuri space vehicle last week.

The spy agency also told lawmakers that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un likely attended Wednesday's SLV launch, Yoo said.

The North Korean projectile marks the first time in seven years that the North has attempted to launch a satellite payload into orbit, and the sixth attempt in its history.

The last was the Kwangmyongsong-4 in February 2016, which the North claimed was an Earth observation satellite.

No transmissions have ever been detected from that satellite, even though experts deemed it entered a stable orbit.

North Korean state media reported Tuesday that the regime plans to launch its first military reconnaissance satellite within two weeks to monitor “dangerous” military activity by the United States and South Korea.

In an English-language statement carried by the KCNA, Ri Pyong-chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party Central Military Commission, called Pyongyang's planned satellite launch an “indispensable” step to strengthen its self-defense capabilities.

The statement was released the same day the North notified the International Maritime Organization that it planned to launch a satellite between Wednesday and June 11.

The North first announced in December that it had conducted an “important final-stage test” for a military reconnaissance satellite, which it said at the time it would launch into orbit by April.

South Korea's presidential office said the National Security Council (NSC) convened in an emergency meeting at 9 a.m. to discuss the North Korean SLV launch attempt.

The council issued a statement condemning the launch as “a grave violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and a serious provocation threatening peace and safety on the Korean Peninsula and in the international community.”

The NSC meeting was led by National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong and attended by Unification Minister Kwon Young-se, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and National Intelligence Service Director Kim Kyou-hyun.

President Yoon Suk Yeol was briefed on the launch soon after it occurred and was continuously updated over the morning, his office said.

The North is barred from conducting any launches that employ ballistic missile technology, including that of satellites, under multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The North Korean satellite launch attempt was also condemned on Wednesday by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who called it “contrary” to Security Council resolutions, according to his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.

White House spokesman Adam Hodge issued a statement calling the launch a “brazen violation” of international law and urged Pyongyang to “immediately cease its provocative actions and instead choose engagement.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]