<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">North Korea has said an accident occurred as it planned to send up its first space satellite, causing it to crash into the sea.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The rocket launch prompted Japan to warn residents in Okinawa but it later reported there was no danger of its territory being hit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">North Korea announced earlier it planned to launch a satellite by 11 June to monitor US military activities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It now says it will attempt a second launch as soon as possible.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said North Korea appeared to have fired a ballistic missile and that the government was analysing the details.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He added that there were currently no reports of damage following the launch. Japan said previously it was ready to shoot down anything that threatened its territory.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There was chaos and confusion in Seoul, the South Korean capital, on Wednesday morning local time, as people awoke to the sound of an air raid siren and an emergency message telling them to prepare for an evacuation - only to be told 20 minutes later it had been sent in error.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The stakes are high on the Korean Peninsula, where tensions have existed between the two countries for 70 years, and this false alarm could seriously damage people's trust in the alert system.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">North Korea poses a threat to South Korea, and if there is an alert in the future one question being asked is whether it will be taken seriously, or brushed off as another mistake.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">South Korea's military said the projectile might have broken up in mid-air or crashed after it vanished from radar early, adding that analysis was being conducted, Yonhap news agency reports.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Tuesday, Ri Pyong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling party's central military commission, announced the launch plan, saying it was in response to "reckless military acts" by the US and South Korea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He accused the countries of "openly revealing their reckless ambition for aggression".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Before Wednesday's launch, the US state department said any North Korean launch that used ballistic missile technology would violate multiple UN Security Council resolutions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">South Korea's foreign ministry also condemned the launch plan earlier this week, calling it a "serious violation" of security council resolutions "banning all launches using ballistic missile technology".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If North Korea eventually goes ahead with the launch, it will have to bear the price and pain it deserves," it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has identified the development of military satellites as a key component of his country's defence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the North Korean government "likely sees itself in a space race", and that whether or not its current satellite mission is a success it "can be expected to issue political propaganda about its space capabilities". BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>