North Korea says its attempt to launch first military spy satellite failed

An accident occurred while launching its first space satellite, causing it to crash into the sea, North Korea has said. The country had previously announced its plans to send up a satellite by 11 June to keep track of US military activities.

It now says it will attempt the launch for the second time as soon as possible.

The first attempt prompted Japan to raise warnings in Okinawa. But it later reported none of its territories were at risk of getting hit.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the North had possibly tried to send up a ballistic missile, adding there weren’t any reports of damage following the launch. Japan had earlier revealed its readiness to shoot down any entity that put its territory at risk.

Meanwhile, in Seoul, South Korea, residents encountered chaos and confusion.

People awoke to the sound of an air raid siren on Wednesday morning local time and an emergency message telling them to prepare for an evacuation – only to drop its instructions 20 minutes later – calling them an error.

North Korea poses a massive threat to the South. And if there is another alert in the future, will it be taken seriously or treated as just another mistake?

Ri Pyong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling party’s central military commission, revealed the launch plan Tuesday, saying it was in response to the US and South Korea’s “reckless military acts”.

He accused the two countries of “openly revealing their reckless ambition for aggression”.

The US state department had earlier raised warnings against the launch, saying any North Korean launch that made use of ballistic missile technology would violate a number of UN Security Council resolutions.

South Korea’s foreign ministry also strongly criticised the plan earlier this week.