State media stated on Monday that the governing party in North Korea “bitterly” criticized the personnel in charge of a recent unsuccessful satellite launch during a high-level meeting.
On May 31, North Korea made an effort to send its first military surveillance satellite into orbit, but the projectile and its payload were lost to what Pyongyang claimed was a rocket failure shortly after launch.
According to state-run KCNA, the ruling party requested an investigation into the “serious” failure and “bitterly criticized the officials who irresponsibly conducted the preparations for satellite launch” in the report from the meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
The committee reaffirmed its commitment to launching the spy satellite as soon as possible, which Pyongyang has previously stated it needs to balance out the expanding US military posture in the area.
The United States, South Korea, and Japan all condemned the May 31 launch, claiming it broke United Nations resolutions prohibiting the nuclear-armed nation from conducting any tests involving ballistic missile technology.
According to analysts, the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and space launch capabilities share a large amount of technology.
North Korea has performed numerous sanctions-defying launches this year, including test-firing its most potent intercontinental ballistic missiles, in addition to the attempted launch of a satellite.
As negotiation stalls and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calls for accelerated military development, including the development of tactical nuclear weapons, relations between North and South Korea are at one of their lowest moments.
Recently, South Korea claimed to have successfully recovered a sizable portion of the rocket wreckage from the ocean floor.
For more than two weeks, Seoul had been attempting to salvage the wreckage because it might provide scientists with information on Pyongyang’s ballistic missile and satellite surveillance programs.
