North Korea said its second attempt to launch a spy satellite failed Thursday and it will make a third attempt in October, the country's state media reported.

The North's state news agency said Thursday's launch ended in a failure because of an error that happened during a three-stage flight of the rocket.

It cited the country's aerospace agency as saying that North Korea will conduct a third attempt in October after finding what caused a failure.

The announcement followed a statement by South Korea's military that North Korea had launched a long-range rocket.

In late May, a North Korean rocket carrying a spy satellite plunged into the sea soon after liftoff, posing a setback to leader Kim Jong Un's push to establish a space-based surveillance system to better monitor the U.S. and South Korea. North Korea had since vowed to make a second attempt.