South Korea has recovered from the sea part of a rocket used by North Korea in its failed attempt to launch the first military satellite last month, the Joint Chiefs of Staff told media. The military said the debris was salvaged adding that they continued to search for additional objects from what the North claimed was a space launch vehicle. The South found debris off its west coast soon after the launch, and began a salvage operation with the aim of studying the new rocket, news agency Reuters reported.
North Korea tried to launch its first spy satellite on May 31 but the flight ended in failure with the booster and payload crashing into the sea.
Photographs released by the South Korean military showed a large cylindrical object marked "Chonma," meaning a winged horse in Korean. North Korea had said the rocket was named "Chollima-1."
"The salvaged object will be thoroughly analysed by expert organisations, including the Agency for Defense Development," the military said in a statement.
South Korea's Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup told media that the debris appeared to be the second stage of the rocket, and that the military would continue searching for the payload and the third stage.
China had also deployed warships for salvage operations in waters where the North Korean rocket crashed, South Korea said on Monday. However, it was not clear whether the Chinese military was continuing its search.
The new "Chollima-1" satellite launch rocket failed because of instability in the engine and fuel system, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. It added that it would do a thorough probe into the incident and the second launch will take place soon.
Notably, the flight was North Korea’s sixth satellite launch attempt and the first since 2016. It was supposed to put North Korea's first spy satellite in orbit, Reuters reported.
KCNA said, "The launched new satellite transport rocket 'Cheollima-1' crashed into the West Sea of Korea as it lost momentum due to abnormal start-up of the two-stage engine after one step separation while flying normally."
The failure jolts North Korea’s ambitious plans as Pyongyang does not have a functioning satellite in space and Kim Jong Un has made developing a spy satellite a top priority.
An official involved in the process said that the failure occurred due to the low reliability and stability of the new-type engine system applied to carrier rocket "Chollima-1" and the unstable character of the fuel used, saying that scientists, technicians and experts concerned started discovering concrete causes, stated KCNA.
North Korea had said that it would thoroughly investigate the serious defects revealed in the satellite launch, take urgent scientific and technological measures to overcome them and conduct the second launch as soon as possible through various part tests.