North Korea’s second spy satellite launch fails

North Korea’s attempt to put a spy satellite into space has failed, three months after its first attempt failed. 

The latest attempt on Thursday morning failed during the third stage of its flight, state media said. 

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has been pushing for a spy satellite for his country as it would allow monitoring of incoming attacks and more accurate plotting of his own. 

A third attempt will take place in October, according to Pyongyang’s space agency. 

South Korea said it detected the launch of the rocket at around 03:50 local time and that it had flown through international airspace over the Yellow Sea between mainland China and the Korean peninsula. 

The launch prompted an emergency warning in Japan’s southernmost Okinawa prefecture. The alert was lifted after 20 minutes. 

Condemning the launch, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said: “Behaviour like this goes against the UN resolutions and we’re already firmly protesting.”

The US urged North Korea to refrain from “further threatening activity” and called on Pyongyang to engage in serious diplomacy.