SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s navy has salvaged parts of a North Korean short-range ballistic missile off its coast which points to an older style weapon based on liquid fuel, the Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday an underwater probe by a South Korean navy ship had recovered debris believed to be part of a North Korean short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) fired last week.
Yonhap reported a military analysis showed the debris appeared to form the lower part of a liquid fuel-based old type SRBM, citing an unnamed military source.
An official at the South’s defence ministry said it could not immediately confirm the report, but the military will release results of its analysis later on Tuesday.
The debris came after North Korea test-fired multiple missiles, including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and hundreds of artillery shells into the sea last week, protesting against joint air drills by South Korea and the United States.
It was the first time a North Korean ballistic missile had landed near South Korean waters.
North Korea’s military said the launches were simulated strikes on South Korea and the United States, criticising their exercises as an “dangerous, aggressive war drill.”
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
