Military wraps up retrieval of N. Korean missile debris

By Kwon Ji-youn

The South Korean military on Saturday said it has retrieved two additional pieces of debris presumed to be from the long-range rocket North Korea launched earlier this month, adding that it has wrapped up its search for fragments of the rocket.

“We believe there are no more significant pieces of debris left to collect,” a military official said.

North Korea launched a long-range rocket carrying what it claimed was a satellite on Feb. 7, a move seen as a banned test of ballistic missile technology. The rocket’s first stage is believed to have exploded into some 270 pieces before falling into the West Sea 410 kilometers from the North’s Sohae Satellite Launching Station.