Failed North Korea satellite launch engine points to Russian role, say South Korean lawmakers

By Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea appears to have received assistance from Russia for its failed attempt in May to launch a reconnaissance satellite, South Korean lawmakers said on Monday, citing the country's spy agency.

North Korea had said it used a new "liquid oxygen and petroleum engine" in the satellite, which exploded minutes after lift-off.

But Seoul's National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers that there were no signs of North Korea having developed such an engine, and it was possibly from Russia.

"Given that liquid oxygen and kerosene were used in the engine for the first time, they had likely received Russian support," Lee Seong-kweun, a member of the parliamentary intelligence committee, told reporters after being briefed by the NIS.

The agency had said Moscow also helped with Pyongyang's successful, first launch of a reconnaissance satellite last November, two months after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's rare trip to Russia, during which President Vladimir Putin promised to help him build satellites.

Putin reciprocated with a visit to Pyongyang in June, during which the two sides signed a "comprehensive strategic partnership" pact. Russia and North Korea have denied arms transactions but have vowed to intensify military cooperation.

Lee also said Kim's daughter, Ju Ae, was being trained to become the next leader, citing the NIS. North Korea's state media has reported on her public activities, but not on her political future.

Park Sun-won, another member of the committee, said the NIS told them the recent indictment in the United States of Sue Mi Terry, a foreign policy expert who once worked for the CIA and on the White House National Security Council, had no impact on intelligence cooperation between Washington and Seoul.

Terry was indicted early this month on charges that she worked as an unregistered agent of South Korea's government in exchange for luxury goods and other gifts.

The indictment came as a surprise to many Seoul officials at a time when Presidents Joe Biden and Yoon Suk Yeol have been ramping up security partnerships.

"The NIS said they're working hard to learn a lesson from this," Park said. "But there are no major problems with intelligence cooperation between the two countries, and it is actually expanding."

(Reporting by Hyonhee ShinEditing by Bernadette Baum and Ros Russell)