Seoul: North Korea's failed spy satellite had 'no military utility'

SEOUL, July 5 (UPI) -- North Korea's first reconnaissance satellite had "no military utility," the South Korean military concluded on Wednesday after analyzing wreckage recovered from a failed launch.

Pyongyang attempted to place the satellite into orbit on May 31, but the Chollima-1 rocket carrying the payload splashed into the Yellow Sea due to a second-stage engine failure.

South Korea conducted extensive salvage operations, involving navy rescue ships, minesweepers and dozens of deep-sea divers, which it wrapped up on Wednesday after 36 days, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message to reporters.

"Through this operation, major parts of North Korea's space launch vehicles and satellites were salvaged, and as a result of careful analysis by South Korean and U.S. experts, it was evaluated as having no military utility as a reconnaissance satellite," the JCS said.

The JCS message did not offer any specifics on how the determination was made. Low-quality aerial photos taken during a North Korean missile launch in December have led analysts to question whether the regime has the technology to capture high-resolution satellite images.

Washington and Seoul have condemned Pyongyang's attempt to launch a satellite, saying it involves technology directly related to North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile program and violates U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Pyongyang claims a spy satellite is necessary to monitor what it calls hostile activities by U.S. and South Korean military forces.

At a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party last month, North Korea's leadership called the failed launch the "most serious" shortcoming of the regime's weapons development progress.

A report "bitterly criticized the officials who irresponsibly conducted the preparations for satellite launch," according to state-run Korean Central News Agency.

"The development of military reconnaissance satellite is of very great significance in prospect of the development of the armed forces of the DPRK and in making full preparations for combat," the report said, according to KCNA.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

South Korea and the United States have expanded their joint military exercises over the past year amid the North's continued weapons buildup.

On Friday, the allies conducted a joint air drill involving at least one U.S. B-52H strategic bomber, Seoul's Defense Ministry said.

A nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine, the USS Michigan, made a port call in Busan last month, the first visit of its kind in six years.