South Korea has managed to salvage part of a rocket used in North Korea’s failed attempt to launch its first spy satellite last month.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced on Friday, June 16, 2023, that the part was found the previous evening and that the search was continuing for additional objects.
On May 31, 2023, North Korea attempted to launch its first spy satellite into space on the Chollima-1 rocket. However, the launch failed as the rocket crashed into the waters off the Korean Peninsula’s west coast. The flight was the nuclear-armed state’s sixth satellite launch attempt and the first since 2016.
Since the crash, South Korea has been carrying out recovery operations around the west coast island of Eocheongdo to find the debris with the heavy parts thought to have fallen to the seabed at a depth of about 75 metres.
Photographs released by the South Korean military showed sailors preparing to lift a large cylindrical object, said to be about 15 metres long (49 feet), from the sea. Some experts claim the object could be the rocket’s fuel tank.
In a statement, South Korea’s military noted, “The salvaged object will be thoroughly analysed by expert organisations, including the Agency for Defense Development.”
According to a news agency, a team of specially trained divers, two salvage and rescue ships, as well as a submarine rescue ship and a P-3 maritime patrol aircraft were deployed in the salvage operation.
It added that a number of challenges were encountered during the operation, such as underwater visibility of just 50 centimetres (20 inches).
U.S Deploys Nuclear-Powered Submarine To South Korea
In other developments, the USS Michigan, a U.S nuclear-powered submarine arrived in South Korea on Friday.
The USS Michigan’s arrival in South Korea is the first of its kind in six years. South Korean officials disclosed that it is part of a recent bilateral agreement on enhancing “regular visibility” of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear program.
The South Korean Defense Ministry announced in a statement that the deployment of the USS Michigan would allow the U.S. and South Korean fleets to undertake exercises aimed at enhancing their cooperative special operations skills and ability to counter escalating nuclear threats from North Korea.
The USS Michigan is among the largest submarines in existence. The guided-missile submarine can be equipped with 150 Tomahawk missiles with a range of about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) and is capable of launching special forces missions.
The U.S. submarine was said to have landed in the port city of Busan, although it was unclear how long it would remain in South Korean seas.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries have been expanding their exercises in response to North Korea’s provocative run of missile tests. The submarine arrived in Seoul a day after North Korea resumed missile tests in protest of the U.S.-South Korean live-fire drills.
On Thursday, June 15, 2023, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast, shortly after it vowed responses to the just-ended South Korea-U.S. firing drills near the Koreas’ heavily armed border.
They were the North’s first weapons launches since its failed attempt to put its first spy satellite into orbit in late May.
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