South Korea deploying ships, divers to continue salvaging failed North Korean rocket
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South Korean officials are overseeing an extensive search operation to locate the debris of a failed missile launch from their northern neighbors.
The operation continued Saturday in the Yellow Sea, where the aborted rocket fired by North Korea landed on June 1.
South Korea’s Sea Salvage and Rescue Unit has been deployed. Military officials said deep sea divers are scanning the area 200 kilometers west of Eocheong, a small island of South Korea.
The country has already recovered large pieces of debris approximately 75 meters below the ocean surface.
South Korea’s military said it salvaged an object presumed to be part of the crashed North Korean rocket carrying a spy satellite after it plunged into waters near South Korea.
Later, the Defense Ministry released photos of the suspected rocket part.
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North Korea’s attempt to launch a spy satellite into space, which would be the country’s first, failed Wednesday after the rocket plunged into waters approximately 124 miles west of the southwestern island of Eocheongdo.
The country’s space agency attributed the failure to “the low reliability and stability of the new-type engine system applied to (the) carrier rocket” and “the unstable character of the fuel,” according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The newly developed Chollima-1 rocket, carrying the Malligyong-1 satellite, launched from the North’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground at 6:37 a.m. local time.
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The rocket lost thrust between its first and second stages and crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast, state-affiliated media reported.
The hermit kingdom released rare photos of the aborted launch and high-ranking members of the nation’s regime are defending North Korea’s right to continue pursuing the military technology.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of dictator Kim Jong Un, lashed out at the U.S. National Security Council on Thursday after a council spokesperson condemned the launch.
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Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno confirmed no object from the failed launch reached its intended orbit in space.
Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.