North Korea announced on Wednesday that an attempt to launch its first "military reconnaissance satellite" "crash into the sea" in western South Korea failed. Is it a race into space?

Kim Jong Un has made the development of such satellites a military priority, a program that the United States says uses "ballistic missile technology" and subsequently violates U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang.

Here are 5 questions to know about the launch of this satellite:

  • What happened?

Ahead of Wednesday's failed attempt, Pyongyang announced that military satellites would be vital in monitoring the military movements of the United States and its allies.

But the rocket carrying the moon crashed into the Yellow Sea due to "loss of thrust as a result of abnormal operation of the second-floor engine," according to the North's official KCNA news agency.

South Korea's military released images of satellite debris and a rocket launcher that it said was recovered from the Yellow Sea, 200 kilometers from Eohsiung Island, off the west coast of the Korean peninsula.

Despite this failure, Pyongyang on Wednesday unveiled the name of its new missile "Chiolema," a reference to a winged horse belonging to legends and very present in the country's propaganda. The satellite, called Maliyoung, means a telescope in Korean.

  • Is it forbidden?

Pyongyang is prohibited from using ballistic missile technology under a series of UN sanctions, one of which specifically requires the country "not to conduct any further nuclear tests or launches using ballistic missile technology."

But North Korea regularly violates the measures, which it describes as an attack on its sovereignty, and this year tested several intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Pyongyang does not announce missile tests in advance, but has in the past warned foreign authorities about planned satellite launches. For Pyongyang, experts say, it is about emerging as a law-abiding global power.

North Korea on Monday informed Japan of the launch of a satellite into orbit between May 31 and June 11.

However, Choi Ji-il, a professor of military studies at Songji University in South Korea, says the technology used in both satellite launches and intercontinental ballistic missiles is "essentially the same."


  • What is the difference between intercontinental ballistic missiles and satellite missiles?

Sending satellites into space and launching intercontinental ballistic missiles requires rocket engineering and "sophisticated expertise," according to experts.

The ballistic missiles carry internal guidance systems that allow them to leave the atmosphere and then enter it to hit specific targets on the ground. When a satellite is launched, the rocket moves it to a specific orbit and then detaches from it, falling to land or into the sea in the form of a barrage of debris.

Han Kwon-hee of the Missel Strategy Forum says, "For intercontinental ballistic missiles, mastering atmospheric reentry techniques is essential to ensure that a warhead does not burn before it reaches its target."

"But for rockets (carrying) satellites, this kind of technology that allows entry into the atmosphere is not necessary, because its goal is to launch a satellite outside the stratosphere."

Han explains that Pyongyang warned Tokyo against launching the satellite, because of the risk of falling debris.

  • Has North Korea ever launched a military satellite?

Experts emphasize that North Korea does not have any satellites operating in space.

Since 1998, Pyongyang has been launching 5 satellites. Three of them broke down as soon as they were launched into space, but the other two appear to have reached orbit. However, none of their signals were monitored independently, which may indicate a malfunction.

The last satellite launch by Pyongyang dates back to 2016. The following year, North Korea conducted a successful test of its first ballistic missile.

Dissident dissident Ahn Chan-il, director of the Global Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP that "the satellites launched by North Korea in the past were actually ballistic missile tests presented as ordinary satellite launches."

According to the researcher, the test, conducted on Wednesday, shows North Korea's desire to enter the "military space age" before its southern neighbor.


  • Is it a race into space?

South Korea's defence ministry told AFP that Seoul is expected to launch the first satellite dedicated solely to military applications by the end of the year with a SpaceX rocket.

On May 25, Seoul launched its own rocket called the Nuri and succeeded in putting many "commercial" satellites into orbit.