North Korea launched its first military reconnaissance satellite on Wednesday, but the flight failed and the satellite ended up in the sea west of South Korea, setting off evacuation alarms in both South Korea and Japan. The satellite, Chollima-1, was mounted on a rocket and would have been used to monitor the activities of the South Korean army, which reported the incident. Evacuation alarms have gone off in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, and in Okinawa, Japan.
After the launch of the satellite, warnings were sent to all residents inviting them to seek shelter away from windows and to prepare to leave their homes. The warnings were lifted minutes later when it became clear the rocket had gone into the water. North Korea has said it will attempt a second launch after identifying and fixing the problems with the first.
