N. Korea cites failed satellite launch as 'most serious' failure

2024-05-20 01:54:26      点击：417

This photo, provided by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency, shows a plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea taking place, with leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, June 19. Yonhap

North Korea on Monday called its failed attempt to launch a purported military reconnaissance satellite the "most serious" shortcoming in the first half of this year, following a rare key party meeting that concluded without its leader's speech.

The North made the assessment following a plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), attended by leader Kim Jong-un, that wrapped up the previous day, referring to its recent botched attempt to launch a rocket carrying a military spy satellite.

"The most serious one was the failure of the military reconnaissance satellite launch, the important strategic work in the field of space development, on May 31," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an English-language dispatch, citing the failure as among the "shortcomings that cannot be overlooked."

The KCNA said that officials who were responsible for the launch were "bitterly" criticized and that an order was made to thoroughly analyze the cause of the failure to "successfully launch the military reconnaissance satellite in a short span of time and thus make a shortcut to improving the capabilities of the Korean People's Army's reconnaissance intelligence."

Pyongyang has vowed to "correctly" put the satellite into orbit soon despite global condemnation that the move breaches multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any launch using ballistic missile technology.

This photo, provided by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency, shows the launch of the North's new "Chollima-1" rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite, "Malligyong-1," from Tongchang-ri on the North's west coast the previous day, June 1. Yonhap

The secretive regime acknowledged the botched launch to its general public for the first time, as the outcome of the meeting was also reported through the country's main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, that targets the North Korean public.

South Korea's unification ministry said that it is "very rare" for the North's leader to skip his speech at a party plenary meeting, and that the country appears to lack confidence in carrying out a five-year economic plan.

It marked the first time that Kim did not deliver a speech at a party plenary session, except for some meetings held overlapping with a key party congress.

"Given that its satellite launch failed and that there were not many accomplishments in various areas, including the economy, we presume that it may have been difficult (for Kim) to directly come to the front," the ministry's spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam said in a regular press briefing.

Fresh achievements in the economic and social sectors were not mentioned in the North's state media, except for housing projects in the construction field.

The North has been suffering from a chronic food shortage and other economic woes that have worsened under prolonged global sanctions and a rigid border lockdown that was aimed at fending off COVID-19.

This photo, released by the North's Korean Central News Agency, shows the plenary session of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea being held at the committee's headquarters in Pyongyang the previous day, June 17. Yonhap

Against this backdrop, some experts said Pyongyang's next attempt to launch its spy satellite may take longer than expected.

"Because it said the technical issues were relevant to the irresponsibility of officials in charge, there is an increased possibility that (the launch) will be delayed," Hong Min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said.

Nonetheless, Pyongyang voiced its intent to push ahead with its space development ambitions.

Describing its space development project as an "urgent task," the North said the issue of an organizational overhaul will be referred to the Supreme People's Assembly.

The unification ministry said the North is likely to expand and upgrade the National Aerospace Development Administration, the state-run agency in charge of space development programs that was set up under the Cabinet in 2013.

During the three-day meeting that discussed the secretive regime's defense and diplomatic strategies, the North made clear its push to increase the "production of powerful nuclear weapons" to counter the "changed security situation."

"The complicated and serious situation on the Korean peninsula which is getting out of control requires the DPRK to ceaselessly renew its military potentials and make a faster advance toward the bolstering up of its capabilities for self-defense," it said, using the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Seoul's ministry said the state media report highlighted the North's stance to sternly deal with Seoul and Washington and hold the allies responsible for the change in security circumstances that it claims as the grounds for its nuclear and missile developments.

During the key meeting, participants reviewed the goals it had laid out for the first half, such as increasing grain production and building new homes for economic development, and set forth new agenda items, including the "epoch-making measures for developing education" and the "important measures for intensifying the building of the Party discipline." (Yonhap)