North Korea says botched satellite launch was ‘gravest failure’

SEOUL: An unusually candid North Korea has said the botched launch of a military satellite last month was the “gravest failure” but it vowed it would soon succeed in its quest, state media reported on Monday.

North Korea’s ruling party made the assessment of its May 31 launch at a three-day meeting that ended on Sunday, ordering workers and researchers to analyse the mission that ended with the rocket and its spy satellite pay load plunging into the sea, and to prepare for another launch soon.

Officials “who irresponsibly conducted preparations” for the failed launch were “bitterly criticised” at the meeting, the KCNA state news agency reported.

The rocket failed “after losing thrust due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine”, North Korea said at the time.

Nuclear-armed North Korea had earlier said it would launch its first military reconnaissance satellite to boost monitoring of US military activities, another step in a military programme that has raised fears of war.

South Korea’s navy last week recovered a large, cylindrical part of the rocket, raising it from the sea off the west coast, which experts said could provide clues to the North’s rocket development.

The North’s state media said the ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee also discussed bolstering nuclear capabilities and stepping up production of nuclear weapons. Leader Kim Jong Un attended the meeting, KCNA said, but it made no mention of whether he made a speech or delivered a report, as he usually does at such important policy-making sessions.