SEOUL: South Korea retrieved on Sunday what it believes to be a fairing dropped by a rocket North Korea launched earlier in the day, its defence ministry said.

Retrieving parts of the rocket that carried what the North says is a satellite into space would help provide clues into isolated Pyongyang's rocket programme.

The object was found southeast of South Korea's Jeju island by a navy ship, a defence ministry official said. A fairing shields the payload, or satellite, carried by a rocket into space.