NK’s 2nd spy satellite launch fails despite Russia’s alleged support

This footage shows the explosion of North Korea's military reconnaissance satellite launched on Monday night, captured by surveillance equipment on a South Korean naval vessel. Courtesy of South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff

North Korea’s latest attempt to launch its second military spy satellite into orbit ended in failure, with analysts attributing the setback to a new type of rocket engine possibly introduced with Russian assistance.While this failure is expected to deal a significant blow to Kim Jong-un’s ambitions of deploying multiple spy satellites to monitor its enemies, some observers suggest that this may even strain his partnership with Russia.The South Korean military detected a suspected satellite-carrying rocket being launched southward over the West Sea from the Tongchang-ri space station at around 10:44 p.m. on Monday, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

However, the rocket exploded midair shortly after takeoff, with multiple pieces of debris detected in North Korean waters two minutes after the launch, the JCS said in a text message to reporters.North Korea promptly acknowledged the failure.”The launch failed due to the air blast of the new-type satellite carrier rocket during the first-stage flight,” the North’s state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported approximately an hour and a half after the rocket’s launch.The KCNA also stated that a preliminary conclusion made by the state-run aerospace agency attributed the failed launch to a new “liquid oxygen plus petroleum engine.”This marks Pyongyang’s third failure to send up a reconnaissance satellite. North Korea successfully launched its first satellite, into orbit in November 2023 after two failed attempts, first in May and then in 카지노사이트킹 August that year.