Reuters:
Japan on Thursday began to examine the suspected nose cone of a North Korean rocket that washed up on a Japanese beach hoping to glean information on the reclusive state’s ballistic missile programme a day after it test-launched two more missiles.
The red, white and blue item, believed to be half of the nose cone designed to protect the rocket’s payload, was found on a beach in western Japan last Thursday and is suspected to come from a long-range, three-stage rocket fired by North Korea on Feb 7 that flew over Japan’s southwest Okinawa island chain.
South Korean authorities recovered the other half.
“We will analyse the materials and the level of technology used,” a Japanese Ministry of Defence official said after the part was delivered by truck to the ministry.
The pockmarked 75 kg (165 lb) part, almost two metres wide and over a metre wide, lay on a blanket and blue tarpaulin in a forecourt at the ministry.
The February launch, which North Korea said put a satellite into orbit hundreds of kilometres above Earth, came just weeks after Pyongyang carried out a nuclear bomb test, both in defiance of U.N. resolutions and sanctions.
