North Korea calls failed satellite launch 'most serious' failure

A plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea takes place, presided by Kim Jong-un, in a three-day meeting from Friday to Sunday. [KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY]

North Korea called its failed attempt to launch a purported military reconnaissance satellite the "most serious" shortcoming in the first half of this year and reaffirmed its pledge to put it into orbit soon, Pyongyang's state media said Monday.

The North made the assessment following a plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, attended by leader Kim Jong-un, that wrapped up the previous day, referring to its botched attempt to launch a rocket carrying a military spy satellite on May 31.

The "Chollima-1" rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite, "Malligyong-1," took off from a new launch pad at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground but crashed into the Yellow Sea following what Pyongyang claimed was the "abnormal starting" of the second stage engine of its space rocket.

"The most serious one was the failure of the military reconnaissance satellite launch, the important strategic work in the field of space development, on May 31," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an English-language dispatch, citing the failure as among the "shortcomings that cannot be overlooked."

KCNA said that officials who were responsible for the launch were "bitterly" criticized and that an order was made to thoroughly analyze the cause of the failure to "successfully launch the military reconnaissance satellite in a short span of time and thus make a shortcut to improving the capabilities of the Korean People's Army's reconnaissance intelligence."

Pyongyang has vowed to "correctly" put the satellite into orbit soon despite global condemnation that the move breaches multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any launch using ballistic missile technology.

Yonhap