South Korea has recovered from the sea part of a rocket used in North Korea’s failed attempt to launch its first military satellite last month, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Friday.
The wreckage was recovered late on Thursday, the military said, adding that it continued to search for additional objects than the North claimed was a space launch vehicle.
On May 31, North Korea attempted to launch its first spy satellite, but the flight ended in failure with the propellant and payload plunging into the sea.
On the same day, the South Korean military identified the wreckage as it fell into the waters about 200 kilometers west of the western island of Eocheong. But it fell to the bottom of the sea at a depth of 75 meters due in part to its great weight.
Photographs released by the South Korean military showed a large cylindrical object marked “Chonma”, which means a winged horse in Korean. North Korea said the rocket was named “Chollima-1”.
According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, the wreckage lifted was around 12 meters long – shorter than previously thought – and 2 to 3 meters in diameter. The bulk of the rocket, about 30 meters long in total, could help shed light on just how far North Korea’s rocket technology has come, observers said.
“The recovered object will be thoroughly analyzed by specialized organizations, including the Defense Development Agency,” the military said in a statement.
South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said the wreckage appeared to be from the rocket’s second stage and the military would continue to search for the payload and third stage.
Chinese warships also carried out rescue operations in waters where the North Korean rocket landed, South Korea said on Monday. It was not immediately clear whether the Chinese military had continued its search.
Seoul and Washington condemned the launch as a provocation and a violation of UN Security Council resolutions banning the North’s use of ballistic missile technology.
Pyongyang said it was exercising its right to space development to counter what it described as US “aggression” and vowed to launch another launch soon.
On Friday, a US submarine arrived in South Korea in a show of force, a day after North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its east coast, warning of an “inevitable” response to military drills. carried out by South Korean and American troops.
(Posted by Fábio Mendes, with information from Reuters)
Source: CNN Brasil
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