By Michelle Lampariello
Nation & World Editor
North Korea attempted to test launch a missile from the city of Sinpo on Sunday, April 16, CNN reported.
The test failed, as the missile blew up a few seconds after it left the ground, according to The New York Times.
The U.N. condemned the launch and demanded that North Korea cease all prohibited actions that violate U.N. regulations, according to CNN.
North Korean missile tests are growing increasingly frequent, according to BBC.
U.S. satellites have recorded increased activity in Sinpo, which is also used as a shipyard for submarine activity, throughout April, CNN reported.
The failed launch occurred the day after a large military parade in the capital city of Pyongyang, during which several ballistic missiles were displayed, to honor the 105th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth, CNN reported.
There is speculation that sabotage by the U.S. may have caused the launch to fail, since other recent tests have been successful. Kim Jong-un reportedly ordered an investigation to determine if American spies were sabotaging the North Korean nuclear missile building program, according to The New York Times.
The same source reported that due to sophisticated North Korean cybersecurity, it is unlikely that the U.S. sabotaged North Korea with a cyber attack.
However, it is possible that the U.S. sabotaged the supplies used to manufacture the missiles, according to The New York Times.
North Korea hopes to complete the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile by late 2017 or early 2018, according to BBC.
The U.N. has demonstrated its “utmost concern over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's highly destabilizing behavior and flagrant and provocative defiance of the Security Council,” CNN reported.
According to the same source, North Korea found this statement to be “impudent words.”
“(The U.S.) must distinguish who is responsible for the current severe situation of the Korean peninsula being aggravated to the brink of war and should behave impartially and with caution,” the Permanent Mission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea said to the U.N., according to CNN.
North Korea claims the U.S. has created a situation in which “nuclear war could break out at any time,” NBC reported.
However, Vice President Michael Pence said the U.S. and its allies are determined to “achieve a peaceable resolution” to the conflict, according to NBC.
