North Korea seems to have botched another missile launch.
Fired on the isolationist state’s eastern coast early April 28, the “Musudan” missile appears to have failed. Also known as a BM-25, the projectile is an intermediate-range missile, with a maximum range of 2,500 miles.
According to South Korean Yonhap news outlet, the mid-ranged missile did not make it high enough for South Korea’s radar system to detect. Al Jazeera reports that the launch was picked up by a US intelligence satellite instead.
This mishap comes just two weeks after another North Korean Musudan launch failed on April 15, and days after the North tested a submarine-launched missile.
While Kim Jong-Un called the aquatic-based projectile launch an “eye-opening success,” this most recent Musudan launch was rushed, according to Yang Uk, a defense expert in Seoul, South Korea.
North Korea’s Workers’ Party congress begins May 6, the seventh such event to take place since dynastic leader Kim Jong-Un came to power. Yang Uk said that the reclusive state wants to “show anything that is successful” ahead of the congress.
“They need to succeed but they keep failing,” noted Yang Uk, “They didn’t have enough time to fix or technically modify the system, but just shot them because they were in hurry,”
North Korea has come under fire from the United Nations for its nuclear testing and firing of long-range missiles, which are flagrant violations of the international organization’s resolutions.
