Pyongyang had launched its first spy satellite into orbit on the Chollima-1 on May 31st, but the vessel ended up crashing into the sea. South Korea, which has been conduction salvage operations to locate the debris, has now recovered the Rocket.
It took a group of expert divers
It took a group of expert divers, two salvage and rescue ships, a submarine rescue ship and a maritime patrol aircraft to extract the crashed rocket, which had sunk to a depth of almost 75 meters.
This will be instrumental for South Korea in their efforts against the continued violence from the neighbouring state. The military said:
“The salvaged object will be thoroughly analysed by expert organisations, including the Agency for Defence Development.”
This is key especially in current times, when weapon testing by the DPRK is reaching a high. It conducted a record number of tests in 2022, and the UN ban on ballistic missiles has not stopped its launch programmes, or the short range ballistic missiles it fired on Thursday night.
Pyongyang defends these drills as necessary for self defence in event of invasion, which may not be baseless as they match up with developing military exercises in South Korean including thousands of US troops. According to Kim Jong Un, having the military of an enemy state like the USA is justifiable reason to be armed to the teeth, but South Korea and other neighbours like Japan have condemned these actions.
