North Korea's spy satellite launch failed

The vice general director of the North's National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) said the rocket carrying the satellite, the Malligyong-1-1, exploded after it lifted off from the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on the country's northwest coast on Monday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

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

It came in defiance of international warnings and criticism that any launch using ballistic missile technology, including that of a space launch vehicle, runs afoul of U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.

"The launch failed due to the air blast of the new-type satellite carrier rocket during the first-stage flight," the KCNA reported, citing the NATA official.

A preliminary examination by experts from the North's launch preparatory committee concluded that the "accident" was attributable to the operational reliability of a new "liquid oxygen plus petroleum" engine, the official said.

The other causes of the failure will also be examined, according to the KCNA.

Shortly after the launch, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the North's rocket ended up as "multiple pieces of debris" in an indication that the satellite launch went wrong.

JCS detected the rocket being launched southward over the Yellow Sea from the Tongchang-ri area in the country's northwest at about 10:44 p.m. on Monday.

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