Last week, North Korea failed to launch its earth observation satellite, Kwangmyongsong-3, marking the third unsuccessful attempt by the country to launch the satellite since 1998. North Korea claims that the satellite will be used to study crops and weather patterns, but other countries believe otherwise.

 

According to media reports, this unsuccessful attempt to launch a satellite demonstrates that North Korea has a long way to go before mastering long-range ballistic missile technology. Many countries believe that for the last few years, North Korea has been using space launches to actually demonstrate its missile capabilities.

 

In order to cater for any portion of the rocket falling on their soil, states like Japan and South Korea had deployed their missile defence systems. Luckily, as per reports, the debris of the rocket fell into the high seas. Many countries around the world including Russia have denounced the launch. They all are of the opinion that it was actually a masked missile test. The UN also had opposed this launch. After North Korea’s failed satellite launch and missiles tests during 2009, the UN had adopted UNSC resolution 1874, which prohibits North Korea from conducing any further nuclear test or any launch using ballistic missile technology.

 

A more in-depth article is available at http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/NorthKorea%E2%80%99sRocketFails_AjeyLele_160412