Failure to launch

THE North Korean capital of Pyongyang is emerging from a tough few months.

Winters in north-east Asia are seldom anything else, but this year, chronic electricity shortages have accompanied temperatures sinking to -20C. Last year, UN agencies estimated up to 6m North Koreans would need food aid.

If the regime was trying to divert attention from all this, the effort failed spectacularly when a satellite launch ended in failure on Friday. According to South Korea’s foreign ministry, a three-stage rocket broke apart in midair, minutes after launch, falling into the Yellow Sea, west of the Korean peninsula.