Botched North Korean Spy Satellite Launch Highlights Seoul’s War Fears

The South’s panicked reaction reflects escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.

AP/Ahn Young-joon
North Korea's rocket launch on a news program at the Seoul Railway Station, May 31, 2023. AP/Ahn Young-joon

North Korea vows to keep trying to launch a spy satellite despite a botched first attempt that sowed fears in the South of an attack from the Communist regime.

The North’s state media, reporting the failure after the initial launch touched off near-panic in South Korea, said “scientists, technicians and specialists” would “start bringing light to the cause of the accident in detail” and “carry out the second launch as soon as possible.”

While the North is sure to try again, the South’s Yonhap News reported analysts saying it “could take months to correct defects.” North Korea had stated that it would put what it called a “reconnaissance satellite” into orbit by early June.

The North’s National Aerospace Development Administration attributed the failure to the “reliability and stability of the new-type motor system” in the “new type carrier rocket” that crashed into the Yellow Sea. 

The North issued that brief explanation after South Korea’s military said the rocket had failed in what Yonhap called “a botched launch that defied international criticism and warnings.”

If nothing else, however, the launch exposed South Korean fears that the launch may have endangered the South. Sirens, once reserved for daily peacetime drills, blared in Seoul – a wake-up call for millions of South Koreans after the launch at 6:29 a.m. Seoul time.

The South’s panicky reaction reflects escalating North-South tensions while the South’s conservative president, Yoon Suk-yeol, endorses intensive joint military exercises with the Americans as well as the Japanese.

A commentary in the North Korean party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, called Mr. Yoon “a warmonger and sycophantic traitor hell-bent on the murderous fascist repression campaign after putting the politics, the economy and even the regional security into the hands of outsiders” — meaning the Americans.

The emergency rules were lifted about 30 minutes later after the failure of the launch was detected, but the government response could be seen as a dress rehearsal for the North’s next attempt at putting a satellite into orbit. 

Seoul’s ultimate fear is that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, could order an attack on the South using missiles bearing tactical nuclear weapons.

A spokesman for South Korea’s opposition Minjoo or Democratic Party accused the government of an “amateurish,” even “clumsy,” reaction. The liberal Minjoo, however, joined Mr. Yoon in formally condemning the launch.

The level of sophistication of the rocket, including its satellite, remains far from clear. It’s not even known if the rocket was launched using solid or liquid fuel. It’s possible to launch a rocket using solid fuel as soon as it’s on the launch pad rather than spend time pumping in liquid fuel under the eyes of hostile eyes in the sky.

South Korean scientists hope to learn much more about the rocket after recovering part of it in the sea 125 miles west of South Korea.


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