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South Korea launches first rocket South Korea launches first rocket
(20 minutes later)
South Korea has successfully launched its first space rocket, which is carrying a scientific satellite.South Korea has successfully launched its first space rocket, which is carrying a scientific satellite.
The two-stage Naro rocket lifted off from a space centre on an island off the southern coast. The two-stage Naro rocket lifted off from an island off the south coast.
Earlier this year the country's secretive neighbour, North Korea, drew international sanctions for its own rocket launch. The launch was watched with excitement by millions of people in South Korea, but is being viewed with suspicion by the country's northern neighbour.
The UN condemned it as a violation of resolutions which bar the North from ballistic missile-related activity. North Korea was recently subjected to UN sanctions for its own rocket launch, which was widely regarded as a cover for a long-range missile test.
No North Korean satellite has been detected in space, although Pyongyang insists its rocket launch worked and the device is now orbiting the earth transmitting revolutionary melodies.
Huge leap forward?
The 33m-high KLSLV-1 is South Korea's first space rocket
South Korea's half-a-billion dollar bid to join the exclusive club of spacefaring nations is an attempt to place a scientific observation satellite into orbit.
If successful in its mission, South Korea will become only the tenth country with the ability to carry out such launches from their own soil.
Before this, South Korea had always relied on other countries to put its satellites into orbit.
Seoul has rejected any comparison with Pyongyang's rocket launch and says its rocket is part of a peaceful civilian space programme.
But some security analysts have suggested that a commercial space programme could still alter the long-term strategic balance in North East Asia, as all rocket technology has potential military uses.