South Korea delays rocket launch as eyes turn to North

South Korea cancelled plans to launch a civilian space rocket on Thursday because of a technical problem while speculation mounted that North Korea may defy the international community with another ballistic missile test.

The lift-off of the 33-metre KSLV-I rocket, or Naro, and its 100-kilogram research satellite was halted shortly after 3pm HK time, Cho Yul Rae, vice science minister, said in a televised briefing. He didn’t say when the launch, which will be the country’s third attempt to put a satellite into orbit using a rocket built with domestic and Russian technology, may resume.

Activity at North Korea’s launch site is consistent with preparations before the botched firing of a rocket in April that cost the regime an American food-aid deal, according to satellite company DigitalGlobe. South Korea has spent about US$500 million on the Naro project to gain a toehold in the space- services market while countries including the US contend the North’s program is cover for missile development.

“North Korea may want to restore its national pride after the failed launch,” Baek Seung Joo, who studies the Pyongyang regime’s military at the Korea Institute of Defence Analyses in Seoul, said yesterday by telephone. “If South Korea succeeds with the Naro rocket, the North’s technology will look weak in comparison.”

Kim Jong-un’s government may be in a position to conduct a test by mid-December, DigitalGlobe said on its website, citing a November 23 image of the Sohae satellite launching station.

North Korea, which announced plans for its last launch almost a month in advance, has not signaled another test is imminent while State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland declined to comment on November 27 on any intelligence assessment of satellite images.

The regime could behave provocatively at any time, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said November 27 in remarks to military commanders, without commenting on any preparations North Korea may be making for a missile test. South Korea’s military was watching the North as usual and had not changed its alert levels, an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said November 23 after the Asahi newspaper reported the US told Japan and South Korea it had detected preparations for a possible missile test.