South Korea says the rocket disappeared from radar early, suggesting it might have crashed or broken up in midair.
North Korea has launched a rocket a day after the country announced a window to put its first military spy satellite into orbit, South Korea’s military said, triggering emergency alerts in parts of South Korea and Japan.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Wednesday it had detected the launch from south of the “Tongchang County area of North Pyongan Province in North Korea, at around 6:29 [21:29 GMT on Tuesday]”.
Air raid sirens wailed across the South Korean capital of Seoul three minutes later as the city used public speakers and smartphones to warn citizens to prepare for possible evacuation. Later alerts said the city warning had been sent by mistake.
The Japanese government issued an emergency warning over its J-Alert broadcasting system for residents of the southern prefecture of Okinawa early on Wednesday morning. The government warned residents to take cover indoors if they were outside.
It later said the missile would not fly to Japan’s territory and lifted the warnings.
South Korea’s JCS said the rocket disappeared from radar early and that it could have broken up in midair or crashed.
North Korea’s “projectile disappeared from radar before reaching expected drop point”, the Yonhap news agency said, adding that the military was looking at the possibility of it “exploding mid-air or crashing”.
Pyongyang announced on Tuesday that it planned to launch its first military spy satellite between May 31 and June 11.
In data provided to international authorities, North Korea said the launch would carry the rocket south, with various stages and other debris expected to fall over the Yellow Sea and into the Pacific Ocean.
A satellite launch by North Korea is a breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban the country from using ballistic missile technology. The plan had been criticised by South Korea, Japan and the United States.
“Space launch vehicles (SLVs) incorporate technologies that are identical to, and interchangeable with, those used in ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles,” a US State Department spokesperson said after Pyongyang announced its launch window.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has been rapidly modernising and expanding its weaponry in defiance of UN sanctions and carried out a record number of tests in 2022.
It says its activities are needed for self-defence.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said earlier this month that the successful launch of a military reconnaissance satellite was an “urgent requirement of the prevailing security environment of the country”.