Its been an eventful year for the rival space programs of Seoul and Pyongyang on May 25 South Korea for the first time used an indigenous launch ve
It’s been an eventful year for the rival space programs of Seoul and Pyongyang: on May 25, South Korea for the first time used an indigenous launch vehicle to place a mission-capable satellite in orbit, and a few days later, North Korea launched a new rocket design from a new facility.
These rockets are the result of decades of development. South Korea’s Nuri launcher is its first entirely indigenous design, and Seoul has ambitions of placing military and civilian satellites in orbit.
The North has cycled through several dramatically different launchers, and its Chollima-1 booster appears more advanced than anything it has flown to date, although its maiden test in May ended in failure.
South Korea first used a self-made rocket last May, the KSLV-II Nuri. While North Korea has developed its own rockets.
While the programs lag behind those of their neighboring Japan and China, both nations have linked rockets to national pride. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called space ‘a demonstration of the overall national power’ and former South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the first launch of the Nuri rocket in 2021 heralded the approach of a ‘Korea Space Age.
