N. Korea says space rocket launch fails due to midair explosion during first-stage flight

SEOUL, North Korea said Tuesday that its attempt this week to launch a new satellite-carrying rocket ended in failure due to a midair explosion during the flight of its first-stage rocket. The deputy chief of the North's national aerospace agency said that the rocket carrying the satellite, the Malligyong-1, exploded during the first-stage flight on Monday night after its launch from a launching station on the country's west coast, according to the Korean Central News Agency. A preliminary assessment suggested that the "accident" appears attributable to the credibility of a "liquid oxygen plus petroleum" engine, the official was quoted as saying. The South Korean military has said that it 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. The launch came hours after President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang held a trilateral summit in Seoul and reaffirmed the ir commitment to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang had earlier notified Japan of a plan to launch a satellite sometime before June 4 and designated three areas, where rocket debris is to fall, as a precaution for safety. The liftoff came on the first day of the eight-day launch window. The recalcitrant regime has planned to launch three satellites into orbit this year. In November, it successfully put its first military spy satellite into orbit. Source: Yonhap News Agency