The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the suspected satellite-carrying rocket being launched in a southward direction over the West Sea from the Tongchang-ri area in the country’s northwest at about 10:44 p.m.

The projectile, however, was detected as multiple pieces of debris in the country’s waters two minutes later, the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters, noting that a detailed analysis is under way between the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States about whether the projectile flew normally.

Pyongyang had earlier notified Japan that it will launch a satellite sometime before June 4 and designated three areas, where rocket debris will fall, as a precaution for safety. The liftoff came on the first day of the eight-day launch window.

The launch also came after President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang held a trilateral summit in Seoul on Monday and reaffirmed their commitment to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.

During the summit, Yoon and Kishida also urged the North to call off the launch plan.

If confirmed, it would mark the North’s latest satellite launch attempt after the country successfully put its first military spy satellite into orbit in November last year after two unsuccessful attempts in May and August, respectively.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to send three more spy satellites into orbit in 2024.

The North’s space rocket launches have drawn condemnation from Seoul, Washington and others, as they violate U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from launches using ballistic missile technology.

Ahead of the latest launch, the South’s military on Monday warned it would take “powerful” measures in response to the North’s launch plan and staged air drills, involving advanced fighter jets, near the inter-Korean border in a show of force.

The November launch had ratcheted up tensions between the two Koreas and prompted the South to partially suspend a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement.

The North in turn vowed to restore all measures halted under the peace deal, and has rebuilt demolished guard posts inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas and installed mines on rare cross-border roads.

The latest launch also comes amid concerns over deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow after a rare summit between the North’s leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Russian spaceport last September, where Putin pledged to help the North to build satellites.

South Korean officials have said Pyongyang has supplied weapons to Moscow to fuel its war on Ukraine in return for food, other necessities and technological assistance, raising concern over possible developments to the North’s military programs.

A military spy satellite is among the list of advanced weapons the North vowed to develop at a key party congress in 2021, which also includes solid-fuel ICBMs, a nuclear-powered submarine and hypersonic weapons.

South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, however, has said the North’s satellite launched last year appears to be orbiting Earth without activity, suggesting that it is not functioning properly.

Seoul has also sought to bolster its independent reconnaissance capabilities, launching two military satellites into orbit last December and last month, respectively, as part of efforts to acquire five spy satellites by 2025 to better monitor North Korea. (Yonhap)

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The North confirmed the failure, saying its new “Chollima-1” rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite, “Malligyong-1,” fell into the sea due to the “abnormal starting of the second-stage engine,” according to its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It plans to conduct a second launch as soon as possible, the KCNA said.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from Tongchang-ri on the North’s west coast at 6:29 a.m. and the projectile fell into waters some 200 kilometers west of the South’s southwestern island of Eocheong following its flight over the waters far west of the border island of Baengnyeong.

The South Korean military identified an apparent part of the North’s vehicle and retrieved it, the JCS added. The part could shed light on the makeup of the rocket and the North’s technological progress, observers said.

The North notified Japan and the International Maritime Organization of its plan earlier this week to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11 despite criticism that it would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any launch using ballistic missile technology.

The recalcitrant regime last launched a rocket carrying what it called a “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite in February 2016.

After the latest launch, the presidential office convened an emergency standing committee session of the National Security Council, which condemned the launch as a “serious provocation” that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the international community.

President Yoon Suk Yeol was immediately briefed on the launch and continued to be updated in real-time, according to his office.

The United States denounced the North’s launch, the White House said, noting President Joe Biden and his security team are assessing the situation in coordination with the allies and partners.

“The United States strongly condemns the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for its launch using ballistic missile technology, which is a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, raises tensions, and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond,” National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement. DPRK is the North’s official name.

In a separate release, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command stressed the “ironclad” security commitment to South Korea and Japan, saying it will continue to monitor the situation.

A group of students on a school trip checks an emergency alert on their smartphones, which urged Seoul residents to take shelter, at Seoul Station in the capital shortly after the Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launch of what it claims to be a “space launch vehicle” southward from Tongchang-ri on the North’s west coast at 6:29 a.m., May 31. Yonhap

An apparent part of a purported North Korean space launch vehicle is seen in waters some 200 kilometers west of the southwestern island of Eocheong, in this photo provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, May 31. Yonhap

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