KBS has confirmed that the military promptly initiated efforts to retrieve the body and debris of a projectile North Korea has claimed was a space launch vehicle after the failed launch Thursday morning.

A senior government official told KBS that Navy vessels and aircraft were deployed for the salvage effort, adding that divers have also been mobilized.

The official said objects separated from the projectile reportedly fell into areas outside two maritime danger zones in the Yellow Sea the North had designated for the launch in a notification to the Japan Coast Guard on Tuesday.

The official said the Navy vessels and aircraft are heading to sites where military authorities detected parts of the rocket to have fallen.

Earlier in May when the North’s Chollima-1 space launch vehicle fell into the Yellow Sea following a failed launch, search and salvage efforts by the South Korean military successfully retrieved parts of the launch vehicle and major debris of the Malligyong-1 satellite that had been loaded on the rocket.

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