The United States and its Asian allies have acknowledged that North Korea succeeded on Wednesday in putting an object into orbit that the communist state said was observing the Earth and airing patriotic songs.

Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said that the satellite was clearly in orbit but that no songs could be heard.

“To the best of our knowledge, the satellite isn’t operating,” he said.

“It’s definitely up there and it’s whizzing around, but it’s just not feeling very well.”

McDowell said it was unclear whether the satellite – called the Kwangmyongsong-3 – worked initially and that it remained possible that it was transmitting at a level too faint for detection.

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