What did North Korea do with those responsible for the failed satellite launch?

North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said Sunday that Pyongyang described the failure to launch a military satellite last month as a “fiasco” at its latest ruling party meeting.

Reasons for failure

The eighth enlarged meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea was held between Friday and Sunday, and it issued orders to workers and researchers to analyze and find out the reasons that led to the failure to launch the satellite and to prepare for a new launch in the near future.

“severe criticism”

While the agency said in its report that those responsible for launching the satellite were subject to “strong criticism.”

Pyongyang indicated after the launch failure that the North Korean missile fell into the sea “after losing thrust due to a malfunction of the second stage engine.”

“Continue to develop its nuclear capabilities”

North Korea pledged to continue developing its nuclear capabilities and to strengthen solidarity with other countries that oppose what it called “the US strategy of world domination.”

“inevitable response”

A day before the start of the meeting, North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its coast, less than an hour after threatening an “inevitable” response to military exercises conducted earlier by South Korean and US forces, as Pyongyang said the exercises exacerbate military tensions.

Last month, North Korea attempted to launch a spy satellite, in its first attempt to launch a satellite since 2016, but the attempt failed.