South Korea says retrieves wreckage of North Korean spy satellite

South Korea's military said on Wednesday it has retrieved the wreckage of a North Korean spy satellite that plunged into the sea in May after a botched launch and found that it did not appear to be capable of military surveillance.

The military last month recovered parts of the rocket used in the North's failed launch of its first military satellite, after the booster and payload crashed into the sea soon after takeoff.

"After detailed analysis on major parts of North Korea's space launch vehicle and satellite which were salvaged, South Korean and US experts have assessed that they had no military utility as a reconnaissance satellite at all," the military said in a statement.

The South's military said it had ended its salvage operations on Wednesday.