North Korea said Monday that its latest spy satellite launch had failed, with its rocket exploding during the first stage of flight that evening.
The Korean Central News Agency cited an unnamed vice director of the country’s National Aerospace Technology Administration as saying preliminary analysis revealed problems with the rocket’s new engine.
The vice director said the accident was due to “the reliable operation of the new liquid oxygen and oil engine,” according to a translation by KCNA Watch, a U.S. and Seoul-based website that tracks North Korean state media.
The space official said his team would investigate other possible reasons for the failure.
Pyongyang attempted three other satellite launches last year, but two of them were confirmed to have failed. All have been condemned by the United States, Japan and South Korea as provocations and show that North Korea has successfully circumvented sanctions to develop its space program.
In November, North Korea successfully launched its Malligyong-1 satellite and says it is still functioning in orbit.
South Korea estimated in February that the satellite was no longer communicating with the ground. However, several international space experts said they observed signs of activity on the Malligyong-1 a few days later.
Monday’s failed launch was an attempt to place the Malligyong-1-1 into space.
Seoul said it detected fragments in North Korean waters about two minutes after the rocket launched toward the Yellow Sea, national broadcaster KBS reported.
South Korean authorities released a black-and-white video of the failed launch, showing what appears to be a fireball in the sky. They said the images were taken from an observation boat.
The space launch attempt was denied by South Korea, which they said North Korea had warned them about. Seoul has deployed 20 fighter jets, including F-35As, as a precaution.
Japan also condemned the launch, saying it had lodged a strong complaint with North Korea through its embassy in Beijing.
“A few minutes after launch, it disappeared over the Yellow Sea,” Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said of the rocket. “Therefore, we assume that no object was launched into space.”
Kihara added that North Korea has announced plans to launch three additional satellites this year.
The US Indo-Pacific Command called the launch “a blatant violation of several unanimous UN Security Council resolutions, which increases tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond.”
He further warned that North Korea appeared to have launched the satellite using technology from its international ballistic missile programs.
North Korea is sanctioned by the United States and its allies, who emphasize limiting its nuclear weapons and space programs. But South Korea has warned that Pyongyang is still able to launch satellites with Russian help.
The United States and Ukraine accuse North Korea of supplying Russia with artillery munitions and say Pyongyang receives raw materials, food and help from Russian experts. North Korea has denied involvement in any arms exchange with Moscow.
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