PYONGYANG – North Korea has said an accident happened as it planned to send up its first space satellite, causing it to crash into the sea.
Pyongyang announced earlier it planned to launch a satellite by 11 June to monitor US military activities.
It now says it will attempt a second launch as soon as possible.
The launch sparked a false alarm in the South Korean capital Seoul, while in Japan a warning was issued to residents of Okinawa, in the south.
There was chaos and confusion in Seoul as people awoke to the sound of an air raid siren and an emergency message telling them to prepare for an evacuation – only to be told 20 minutes later it had been sent in error.
The stakes are high on the Korean Peninsula, where tensions have existed between the two countries for 70 years, and this false alarm could seriously damage people’s trust in the alert system. (BBC)
