N. Korea's missile launch fails again

By Jun Ji-hye

North Korea test-fired what is presumed to have been a Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) early Thursday from its east coast, but the launch appears to have failed, according to a military official.

This is humiliating for North Korea because it already failed to launch the same kind of missile on April 15, the 104th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung ― the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.

“North Korea tried to launch a missile believed to be a Musudan from an area near Wonsan at about 6:40 a.m.” the official said on the condition of anonymity. “The launch is presumed to have failed as the missile fell into the sea a few seconds after liftoff.”

The official said a U.S. reconnaissance satellite detected the launch, adding that South Korea and the U.S. are jointly analyzing the exact cause of the crash.

In the first test-firing, the missile was presumed to have exploded during its booster phase before fixing its angle and entering orbit.

The Musudan, also known as the BM-25, is thought to have a range of some 3,000 to 4,000 kilometers, far enough to reach Guam, home to U.S. naval and air bases.

The repressive state deployed the Musudans in 2007 without carrying out test firing the weapon.

Military experts said the two consecutive failures indicate that the North’s IRBM capabilities are still incomplete.

The military is preparing for the possibility the North could carry out additional provocations at any time including a fifth nuclear test, considering that Pyongyang has marked the national holiday in the past with elaborate military events.

The North is scheduled to hold the seventh ruling Workers’ Party Congress, May 6.

A series of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions prohibit North Korea from launching ballistic missiles.

But the repressive state has continued to take provocative action even after the UNSC imposed harsher sanctions against the regime in early March, in response to its fourth nuclear test in January and the long-range rocket launch in February.

Since the new resolution, the North has protested with the firing of short and mid-range missiles and its new 300-millimeter multiple-rocket launcher, heightening military tension on the Korean Peninsula.