It said the debris fell into the Yellow Sea off South Korea and its navy launched a salvage operation to retrieve the debris, despite warnings from Pyongyang last week not to attempt such an operation. [break]
According to AP, within minutes of the early morning launch, the United States and South Korea declared it a failure. It further said North Korea acknowledged that hours later in an announcement broadcast on state TV, saying the satellite that the rocket was carrying had been unable to enter into orbit.
The United States and its allies had slammed the exercise as a disguised ballistic missile test that contravened United Nations resolutions triggered by Pyongyang´s two nuclear tests.
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South Korea says North’s recent test was of rocket engine
