Washington ( CNN ) -- After weeks of military analysts examining the latest North Korean rocket before and after its failed launch , the focus now has turned to a truck . It 's not just any truck . It 's known as a `` transporter , erector , launcher , '' TEL for short , and is designed to move a long-range missile into place , stand it upright and launch it from just about anywhere in North Korea . The truck was spotted in a military parade in Pyongyang last weekend with what experts say is a new long-range rocket on board . The United Nations is investigating if the TEL came from China in violation of U.N. resolutions , a U.S. official tells CNN . The U.N. Security Council committee that monitors implementation of the sanctions on North Korea is investigating , the official said . The investigation was first reported by Jane 's Defense Weekly . Asked about the TEL during a hearing Thursday of the House Armed Services committee , Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said , `` I 'm sure there 's been some help coming from China . I do n't know , you know , the exact extent of that . '' Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies agrees . `` There is no question that there is a long history in the past of Chinese and North Korea cooperation on missile technology . '' But he cautioned that `` until you can absolutely confirm that the system was made in China and is a violation of the missile technology regime , that does not mean that because something came out of China it 's a violation of any of China 's agreements . '' Charles Vick , a missile analyst for GlobalSecurity.org , points out the truck may not have been made in China . `` It may be an offshoot derivation that the Koreans built themselves , but basically it 's the same design , '' he said . Or China may have sold the truck to North Korea in the years before the sanctions were in place . `` That is not clear , how it arrived there , but it 's a commercially available tractor truck , '' Vick said . As for the rocket/missile the truck was carrying . Few experts are willing to say what was seen in the parade was real , `` I think you create parade missiles for public display that do n't have all the external equipment that 's on them versus the real flight vehicles . '' Vick is convinced that the rocket , if there 's a real version , would be an adaptation of old Soviet technology , not a new version of it 's Taepodong-2 . `` This is a new design , a much more compact design . '' Cordesman said there is much we do n't know about the rocket . `` There are times when none of us really know since we ca n't look inside the skin , '' he said . `` None of us have the faintest idea . First we do n't know if it 's real , ( and ) if it is real you need to talk about reliability or the guidance system . '' On that point even Panetta , who used to be CIA director , agrees : `` I have to tell you we need , frankly , to get better intelligence as to exactly what those capabilities are , exactly , you know , what 's real and what 's not real here , in order to determine exactly what that threat represents . '' But North Korea 's recent failed launch demonstrated that it has made little progress in developing long-range missiles , according to the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency . Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly told a congressional committee earlier this week , `` Our experience has been you need a lot of testing and flight testing in order to validate and have reliance in the capability . They do not , and it 's been evident every time they test . And their progress has not been made apparent in this latest flight test . ''
Focus turns to truck spotted in Pyongyan military parade . Truck is known as a `` transporter , erector , launcher '' or TEL . U.N. investigating whether the TEL came from China . Analyst says Koreans may have built the truck themselves .