Global Courant
SEOUL — North Korea has said its failed military satellite launch in May was its “most serious failure,” state media KCNA reported Monday.
The comment was made in a report on the country’s latest major party meeting, the eighth expanded plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
Workers have been instructed to analyze the failed military satellite launch and prepare for another one in the near future, the report said, adding that those responsible for the failed launch were “severely criticized”.
North Korea had attempted to launch a spy satellite on May 31, but it crashed into the sea after a failed missile.
The missile crashed into the sea “after losing thrust due to the abnormal starting of the second stage engine,” Pyongyang had said after the failed launch in an unusually candid admission of a technical problem.
The KCNA report added that North Korea has also vowed it will continue to develop its nuclear capability and strengthen solidarity with other countries opposing what it calls the “U.S. strategy for world domination.”
The plenary also discussed ensuring food self-sufficiency by increasing the country’s agricultural production and meeting the annual grain production target.
Earlier this year, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said the food situation in the north “appeared to have deteriorated”.
Pyongyang is under severe international sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The economy is under further pressure from strict self-imposed border closures to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. REUTERS, AFP
