North Korean missiles sound alarm in Seoul and Japan, Pyongyang says they ‘fell into the sea’ | outside

The city of Seoul sent an alert message to all cell phones asking residents to prepare for a possible evacuation, with “children and the elderly first.” But after it was later found that there was no danger to residents, the city admitted that the call was “misleading”. Japan also briefly sent an emergency alert.

Shortly after launch, the South Korean military reported that the missile suddenly disappeared from radar. According to the General Staff, the plane may have exploded or crashed. The South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted the General Staff as saying that “the missile disappeared from the radar before it reached its expected landing site.”

Indeed, Pyongyang confirmed that the missile carrying a military observation satellite “fell into the sea” due to a technical malfunction. So reports the state agency ‘KCNA’. “The new Cheollima-1 satellite transmission missile crashed in the West Sea,” the Korean name for the Yellow Sea, the Korean Central News Agency said, explaining that the missile “lost momentum due to the abnormal operation of the two-stage engine.”

The launch is the nuclear-armed country’s sixth attempt to launch a spy satellite, and its first since 2016. North Korea confirmed earlier Tuesday that it will launch a spy satellite in June, “to understand the dangerous military actions of the United States” and to confront their followers.

A White House spokesperson said the United States “strongly” condemned the launch, saying it “raises tensions” and “threatens to destabilize the security situation in the region and beyond.” Japan is also critical, according to tokyo, pyongyang violated un security council resolutions.