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This photo, released by North Korean state media, shows the North’s May 31 launch of a military reconnaissance satellite. Engine failure caused the rocket to splash down in the ocean. (KCNA/Yonhap)

North Korea officially announced Thursday that it had attempted another launch of a military reconnaissance satellite early that morning, but that the launch failed due to an “error in the emergency blasting system.”

This comes 85 days after a first launch attempt failed on May 31. The South Korean presidential office convened a meeting of its National Security Council standing committee to discuss response measures.

In a report published at 6:15 am on Thursday, the Korean Central News Agency said, “The National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) of the DPRK conducted the second launch of reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1 aboard the new-type carrier rocket Chollima-1 at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in Cholsan County of North Phyongan Province.”

“The flights of the first and second stages of the rocket were normal, but the launch failed due to an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight,” the report continued.

“Explaining that the cause of the relevant accident is not a big problem in aspect of the reliability of cascade engines and the system, the NADA expressed the stand that it would conduct the third reconnaissance satellite launch in October after thoroughly probing the reason and taking measures,” it said.

In response, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, “At around 0350 hours this morning, the South Korean military detected a ‘North Korea-claimed space launch vehicle’ that was launched toward the south from the area of the Tongchang village in North Pyongan Province, North Korea, and passed through international airspace to the west of Ieo Island.”

“Having detected it immediately upon launch, [the South Korean military] continued tracking and monitoring it, and it is determined to have failed,” the Joint Chiefs added. “This launch of a purported space launch vehicle by the North was a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions that prohibit any and all launches that utilize ballistic missile technology.”

The presidential office convened a National Security Council standing committee meeting presided over by Cho Tae-yong, the presidential office national security adviser. The meeting was reportedly attended by the minister of defense and other minister-level chiefs of related agencies.

North Korea’s latest failure to launch a military spy satellite comes 85 days after their first attempt went awry. On May 31, the North had used the space launch vehicle Chollima-1 to send its satellite, the Malligyong-1, into orbit, but a second-stage engine ignition failure caused the rocket to fall into the waters some 200 kilometers west of Eocheong Island on the South’s western coast.

During a plenary meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee in mid-June, leader Kim Jong-un called the botched satellite launch a “most serious” failure and demonstrated Pyongyang’s intent to successfully launch a satellite before long.

In regard to this, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told the National Assembly on Aug. 17 that North Korea has been “concertedly carrying out engine combustion tests since late July to verify the reliability of the launch vehicle.”

Days later, on Aug. 22, North Korea alerted Japan that it would be launching a satellite between Aug. 24 and Aug. 31.

By Shin Hyeong-cheol, staff reporter

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