This shouldn’t be too surprising because it will likely be months before North Korea’s scientists are able to asses the data and repair whatever went wrong with their previous space launch. Additionally they likely have to build another satellite to put on top of the rocket:
The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol said Sunday it is not letting its guard down even though the window for North Korea’s satellite launch has expired, as the country can go ahead with a launch at any time.
North Korea had set a period between the start of May 31 and the start of June 11 as the window for a satellite-carrying space rocket launch. The country fired the rocket on the first day of the window, but the launch ended in failure with the rocket crashing in the Yellow Sea.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It makes me wonder if their were marital difficulties and the wife defected knowing what the consequences for her husband would be:
Authorities in Vladivostok, a port city in the far eastern region of Russia, have launched an investigation into the disappearance of two North Koreans, Russian news outlets reported Tuesday.
The missing North Koreans are believed to be wife and son of an official working at the North Korean consulate general there, according to the Arguments & Facts weekly owned by the Government of Moscow.
The two — 43-year-old Kim Kum-sun and 15-year-old Park Kwon-ju — were last seen leaving the North Korean consulate general office in Vladivostok on Sunday morning and have been unaccounted for since, the report said.
The report said the cab driver who picked them up outside the consulate general office told authorities he dropped them off near a building on the city’s Russkaya Street, which was confirmed by closed-circuit TV footage.
The investigation was opened following a missing person report filed by the North Korean consul general office.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
Kim Yo-jong is unhappy with the condemnation of their recent failed space launch and claims it is hypocritical. Her point is that many other countries conduct space launches to why can’t North Korea? If North Korea was not threatening neighboring countries with nuclear destruction and launching deadly provocations against South Korea the UN would not have sanctions against their rocket and missile programs:
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday lambasted last week’s meeting of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) on the country’s recent failed space rocket launch as “the most unfair and biased act of interfering in internal affairs.”
In a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo-jong expressed displeasure over Friday’s open UNSC briefing, stressing the North will continue to exercise “all the lawful rights” as a sovereign state, including one to launch satellites.
The North launched what it claimed to be a satellite-carrying rocket Wednesday, but it fell into the Yellow Sea following an abnormal flight, according to the South Korean military. The U.S. and other nations called the launch a breach of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. North Korea is banned from any use of ballistic missile technology under U.N. resolutions.
“I am very unpleased that the UNSC so often calls to account the DPRK’s exercise of its rights as a sovereign state at the request of the U.S., and bitterly condemn and reject it as the most unfair and biased act of interfering in its internal affairs and violating its sovereignty,” Kim said, referring to her country by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
This would be a big intelligence gain for the ROK if they are able to salvage the second stage of North Korea’s failed rocket launch:
An apparent part of a purported North Korean space launch vehicle is seen in waters some 200 kilometers west of the southwestern island of Eocheong on May 31, 2023, in this photo provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Yonhap)
The South Korean military is still in an operation to retrieve a sunken part of a purported North Korean space rocket that appears to be the second stage of the ill-fated vehicle, Seoul’s defense chief said Thursday.
Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup made the remarks during a parliamentary session, as the Navy is trying to recover the 15-meter part that currently lies at a depth of 75 meters underwater in the Yellow Sea. The retrieval may take two more days, he said.
The North fired what it claims to be a satellite-carrying rocket Thursday morning, but it crashed into the sea due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine, the North’s state media said, in a rare acknowledgement of such a failure.
“We are continuing to trace the third stage and the payload,” Lee told lawmakers, noting the already identified wreckage appears to be the second stage of the rocket.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It is pretty clear that the Kim regime came clean on the failed space launch in order to legitimize North Korea as having a space program instead of a front to improve their ICBM capabilities:
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| This photo released Thursday by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency shows its Chollima-1 rocket, carrying a spy satellite, takes off from an undisclosed location in North Korea the previous day. Yonhap |
North Korea’s unusually prompt admission of the failure of its purported reconnaissance satellite launch shows the regime’s effort to characterize the project as a scientific endeavor and not part of its missile program as suspected by Seoul, Washington, Japan and many other governments, according to experts, Thursday.
Korea Times
Less than three hours after Wednesday’s failed rocket launch, North Korea admitted the failure and vowed in a message to the world to step up efforts to place a new one in orbit soon, although it did not disclose the botched attempt to its own people.
“The regime appeared to highlight that it has the technology required for a satellite launch and it is sincere about that effort, providing a counterargument against claims that it was just part of its weapons program,” Cha Du-hyeogn, a senior researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank, said.
“North Korea would need to justify the rocket test as some countries are expected to push for additional sanctions or resolutions through the U.N. Security Council.”
You can read more at the link.
North Korea is making it clear they are never going to come clean on Japanese abductees. This likely because the unaccounted for abductees provided language training to North Korean operatives still within Japan:
Photos of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted from Japan by North Korea in 1977, are displayed at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, May 9, 2018. (Stars and Stripes)
North Korea is willing to hold talks with Japan on improving their relationship but considers further discussions over abducted Japanese citizens “a waste of time,” according to North Korean state media.
Nothing prevents the two nations from meeting, provided Japan makes “a new decision from a broad perspective of recognizing each other” and “seeks a way of improving the relations,” North Korean vice-minister of foreign affairs Pak Sang Gil was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency on Monday.
The abduction issue, still a sticking point in Japan, is already resolved, Pak said.
In 2002, North Korea admitted for the first time to abducting Japanese nationals in the 1970s and ‘80s and apologized at a summit meeting with Japan, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry. Five abductees returned to Japan in October of that year, but another 12 remain unaccounted for.
Japan continues to investigate more than 800 people who might have been abducted, according to Japan’s Cabinet Office.
“Without the resolution of this issue, there can be no normalization of relations between Japan and North Korea,” the Foreign Ministry website states.
North Korea said it has returned all living abductees; the remainder are either dead or never entered the North.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
