Pyongyang said that a space rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite fell into the sea due to a technical defect, for its part, Seoul said it was trying to pick up debris from the sea that could be parts of a rocket.
North Korea’s official news agency reported Wednesday that “a new Chiulima-1 space rocket has crashed in the West Sea,” explaining that the rocket crashed due to a technical defect in its engine.
For their part, the South Korean military has announced that they are “working to extract debris” believed to be part of a rocket launched by North Korea to put a spy satellite into orbit.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said the army this morning found objects believed to be part of a suspected North Korean space rocket in the waters 200km west of Yochung Island and is working to locate it.
Both Japan and the US condemned the North Korean satellite launch.
Japan announced that North Korea violated UN Security Council resolutions by launching a “ballistic missile” after North Korea announced it had launched a space rocket that failed to place a satellite into orbit and crashed into the sea.
The White House also expressed its “strong condemnation” of North Korea’s launch of what it said was a space rocket to put satellites into orbit, and warned that the move “raises tensions.”
Source: agencies