North Korea’s Space Rocket Launch Fails: Officials Cite Engine Problem

North Korea announced on Monday that the launch of a space rocket was unsuccessful due to an explosion during the first phase of the projectile. The state news agency KCNA quoted the deputy director of the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) as stating that the rocket carrying the satellite exploded during the combustion of the first phase.

The North Korean official mentioned that a preliminary analysis indicated a problem in one of the engines of the first phase. The launch took place around 10:44 p.m. local time on Monday, and South Korean radars detected it as a large group of fragments over North Korean waters, indicating mid-flight failure.

The Japanese alert system for population was initially activated in Okinawa, detecting and calculating the trajectory of the projectile, but it was deactivated shortly after when