N. Korean vessel tasked with tracking rocket malfunctioned: official

By Sam Kim

SEOUL, April 7 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean commercial vessel set sail for the Pacific Ocean with a mission to locate the country's rocket purportedly used to orbit a satellite, but turned back due to mechanical trouble, a South Korean official said Tuesday.

North Korea fired a three-stage rocket Sunday that it said carried a
communications satellite into orbit, defying international warnings it would be
considered a banned test of a ballistic missile.
No satellite entered orbit, South Korea and the U.S. say, and the final stages of
the rocket plunged into the Pacific Ocean, at a distance beyond the reach of
North Korean radars.
"North Korea instead sent a commercial vessel to track its rocket and possibly
retrieve debris," the official said, adding the vessel departed "quite some time
ago."
The official, who cited intelligence and spoke strictly on condition of
anonymity, said he did not know at which point the ship was forced to end its
voyage or what tracking equipment it carried.
"We don't clearly know the mechanical problem that appears to have prevented the
ship from further sailing," the official said. "It likely has to do with outdated
parts of the vessel."
The U.S. has yet to disclose the coordinates of the location where the final
stages of the rocket crashed. The payload plunged along with them, the North
American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command said.
Media reports suggest the final stage landed 2,700-3,100 kilometers from the
Musudan-ri launch site on North Korea's east coast after flying over Japan.