By Kim Tong-hyung
After a half-century of conflict, South Koreans find they have fewer and fewer things in common with their North Korean neighbors. But one unique feature shared by both nations is the talent to build rockets that blow up prematurely.
South Korean rocket scientists had anticipated North Korea’s rocket launch with equal concern and curiosity. After North Korea’s state media confirmed the country’s latest setback in its vaunted attempts to launch a satellite into orbit, which many believe is a cover for its efforts to strengthen its long-range missile capabilities, experts here offered differing opinions about the level of skills displayed by engineers in Pyongyang.
Whether the intention is to boost its long-range weaponry or jump into the Asian space race, North Korea has clearly hit a wall in the advancement of its rocket technology, according to most scientists here.
The Unha-3 (Milky Way 3), which exploded shortly after take-off from northwest North Korea Friday, seems essentially a variation of the Taepodong-2 missile launched in 2006.
Kim Seung-jo, a leading rocket scientist and president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), South Korea’s space agency, believes that North Korea is relying on technology used by the Russians and Americans in the late-1950s or early-1960s.
``Reports say the rocket broke up after just a minute or so. This means that there was a malfunction in the liquid-fuel first-stage of the rocket,’’ Kim said in a telephone conversation.
``It’s clear that North Korea’s liquid-fueled rocket is not as stable as those used by nations with more advanced space technologies. So while North Korean engineers are reading the trends in rocket technology, they still don’t seem to have the sophistication to tighten the loose ends and execute the process properly.’’
South Korea’s track record in rockets isn’t something to brag about either. It’s been nearly two years since the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) exploded moments after take-off and spun the South’s aspirations to join the space-launch industry further out of orbit.
And that represented the country’s second major space setback in the span of less than a year, triggering a verbal dispute between KARI and its Russian technology providers over who’s to blame and who must pay for a potential third launch.