North Korea's spy satellite explodes mid-air, Seoul detects ‘many fragments’ in ocean

North Korea launched an "unidentified projectile", said South Korea's army on Monday (May 27).

The move came hours after Pyongyang informed Japan of its plan to fire another "spy satellite".

"North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile southwards," over the Yellow Sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, after Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo wrapped up their first trilateral summit since 2019.

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Following this, Japan also issued an evacuation order to southern Okinawa prefecture, confirming the launch.

"Missile launch. Missile launch. It appears a missile(s) was launched from North Korea. Please evacuate inside buildings or underground. Information was received at 22:46 (1346 GMT). Target region: Okinawa."

The Japanese government's alert was lifted at 23:03 (1403 GMT), adding that the missile(s) appeared not to fly to Japan".

Satellite launch failed

Hours later, Pyongyang said that its fresh attempt to place a spy satellite into orbit on Monday had failed after it burst into flames mid-air.

Further elucidating the issue behind the failed attempt, North Korea said that due to a suspected engine problem, the satellite exploded during the first-stage flight.

The launch of the Malligyong-1-1 reconnaissance satellite "exploded in the air during the first flight and failed to launch," the country's National Aerospace Technology Administration said in a statement carried by state media, adding the "cause of the accident was the reliability of the newly developed liquid oxygen and kerosene engine."

'Fragments of missile found in ocean,' say Seoul

Pyongyang's statement came after the South Korean military said that it had detected several "fragments" in the ocean after Pyongyang's spy satellite launch which it said indicated that the launch may have failed.

The army said that South Korean and US intelligence agencies were investigating whether the launch had failed.

Around two minutes after it detected "what's suspected to be the North's military reconnaissance satellite... many fragments of the projectile were detected around 22:46 (1346 GMT) in North Korea waters and the US and South Korea are analysing whether it had an operational flight," Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

A senior Japanese defence ministry official told reporters that "the missile did not fly into the area that had been announced, and the situation is not as North Korea had intended. We are still analysing whether it is a satellite or not," Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

(With inputs from agencies)