South Korea was forced to halt an attempted satellite launch on Thursday, at a time when speculation is rising that North Korea is preparing to breach a UN Security Council resolution with its own launch.
The launch, halted minutes before the scheduled take-off, had already been postponed from October due to the late arrival of parts from Russia. Cho Yul-rae, vice minister of science and technology, told reporters that a technical problem had resulted in “abnormal signals” from the steering mechanism of the rocket. No subsequent launch date was given.
The abrupt cancellation, which followed two failed attempts to send satellites into space in 2009 and 2010, is a mild embarrassment for a country that prides itself on its technological prowess. More importantly, it raises the possibility of Pyongyang winning a propaganda coup by executing the first successful satellite launch from the Korean Peninsula.
