China's defunct space station broke up over the South Pacific Ocean as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere at 9:16 a.m. Monday (Korean time), a local space institute said.

The Tiangong-1 disintegrated at an area around 195.7 degrees west, 13.6 degrees south, off the coast of Chile, the state-run Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute said.

South Korea was among the possible places where debris could fall, but the institute excluded the country after close examination of the station's descent trajectory.

The ministry issued an alert Friday because there was an off chance that due to its size and density some parts could hit the planet's surface.

The space station was 10.5 meters long and weighed 8.5 tons.

The ministry said the precautionary alert issued over the country was lifted as of 11:00 a.m.

The Tiangong-1, launched in 2011, is China's first ever orbital station and served as an experimental platform for the country's ambitious space program. (Yonhap)