군, 15일만에 북한 '우주발사체' 잔해 인양 성공
Good evening. Thank you for joining us. I'm Yoon Jung-min.
The South Korean military has retrieved a 12-meter-long piece of North Korean rocket debris, --a remnant of a failed satellite launch some two weeks ago from the challenging underwater conditions of the West Sea.
Further investigations are underway to gather more information about the North's rocket technology.
Our defense correspondent, Kim Yeon-seung begins our coverage from the Navy's Pyeongtaek fleet headquarters.
This 12-meter-long piece of debris from a North Korean rocket was just freshly fished out of the sea, Thursday evening.
It's a byproduct of North Korea's failed attempt to launch a spy satellite on May 31st.
With the rocket failing to reach space and landing in waters west of the peninsula, the South Korean military rushed to recover any remains.
However, as this piece was discovered lodged in the West Sea's coastal mudflats with a third of it buried in the ocean mud, the recovery crew ran into multiple challenges.
"The underwater visibility was extremely poor. My sight was limited to the distance of my palm. I had to rely purely on touch."
The diver further detailed the conditions unique to the West Sea: water currents move fast and sediment was stirred up as the divers descended, clouding their visibility.
The cylindrical shape of the debris also made the mission extra tough.
The navy struggled to find the right place to secure a clamp and wires to hoist it to the surface.
The solution was found in securing a clamp into a crack and drilling a hole into the body of the debris to install a U-shaped loop for lifting it.
But, as they lifted it onto the ship's deck, the top part separated off.
Officials reassured that the damage was not critical enough to derail the mission entirely.
After being lifted to the surface, the debris was brought to the South Korean Navy's second fleet headquarters in Pyeongtaek.
"This is what was recovered from the West Sea after being submerged underwater for more than two weeks.
As you can see, it has quite a lot of scratches on the surface, and military officials say that these were caused during the recovery process.
They also suspect this to be part of the second stage of the rocket, but further examination is required to gather more intelligence about it."
South Korea's Agency for Defense Development is joining the investigation.
It will also collaborate with American intelligence services, including the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, in a bid to answer lingering questions.
Of particular interest is the anomalous label on top of the rocket that reads "Cheonma," a syllable short of North Korea's proclaimed name for the rocket, "Cheo-lli-ma."
Investigators are also curious about the advanced technology North Korea might have packed into the launch vehicle.
Meanwhile, the South Korean Navy continues its search for more debris, signaling that this chapter is far from over.
Kim Yeon-seung, Arirang News, Pyeongtaek
#NorthKorea #Space_rocket #Spy_satellite #Rocket #Debris #북한 #정찰위성 #안보 #잔해 #인양 #Arirang_News #아리랑뉴스
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2023-06-16, 18:00 (KST)
