North Korea Tech, 13 Apr 2012, Martyn Williams: "Voice of Korea, the DPRK’s international radio service, broadcast news of the failure to place the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite into orbit. Below is a recording of the radio station’s English-language broadcast for Friday. Voice of Korea typically updates its programming once a day, so is almost always beaten to the news by domestic media outlets. I’m posting it here because it’s the only radio or TV news available in English. As expected, there’s no update on the reason for the failure. North Korea-watchers with a keen eye have already noted how unusual it is for the country to admit failure, as Chico Harlan writes in The Washington Post. There are a number of theories, mostly revolving around the presence of international media in Pyongyang, although those journalists were kept in the dark about the launch and learned about it from colleagues overseas. One interesting idea proposed it that it’s because of the increasing amount of information coming into the country from overseas. It’s theorized that citizens would find out anyway so why keep them in the dark? Whatever the reasons, the admission of failure represents a bold step for the government." With audio.

Washington Post, 13 Apr 2012, Chico Harlan: "[T]his time, unlike after previous failures, North Korea didn’t manufacture a tale about a technological triumph and a satellite spinning around the globe. Roughly four hours after the Unha-3 rocket fell apart, Pyongyang’s state-run news agency released a brief statement saying that the 'earth observation satellite failed to enter its preset orbit.' A news anchorwoman then read the statement on domestic television. ... When the North attempted to place a satellite into orbit in 2009 — its most recent effort until Friday — the multistage carrier rocket failed when the third stage didn’t fire. Outside accounts, relying on tracking data, said the Unha-2 plummeted into the Pacific Ocean. But North Korea provided a different account. Kim Jong Il expressed his 'great satisfaction' that the Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite had been placed into orbit. A front-page account in the next morning’s state-run newspaper described the device’s nine-minute, two-second path into orbit and said the satellite was now transmitting revolutionary songs at a frequency of 470 MHz."

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