South Korean military says salvaged parts of North's spy satellite have no military utility

The salvaged parts of North Korea's failed spy satellite are displayed to the press at the Second Fleet of the South Korean Korean Navy on June 16. [YONHAP]

The South Korean military has completed salvaging parts of the North Korean spy satellite that crashed into the Yellow Sea, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday.

The JCS added that though key parts of the satellite were salvaged, the South Korean-U.S. officials' inspection found that none had any military utility as a spy satellite.

The salvaging operation began May 31 after what North Korea said was its first reconnaissance satellite, Malligyong-1, crashed into the Yellow Sea in the North's failed launch of the Cheollima-1 rocket.

Pyongyang said the cause of the failure was the "abnormal starting" of the second-stage engine of the rocket.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]