Korea will work closely with the United States and other space technology leaders to build its indigenous Korea Space Launch Vehicle-2 (KSLV) rocket, a senior policymaker said Wednesday, according to Yonhap News.
Science and Technology Minister Ahn Byong-man made the remark on talks over technology sharing between Korea and the U.S. in a meeting with reporters.
"In order to speed up development of a wholly Korean rocket, there is a need to cooperate with other countries to acquire knowhow," he stressed, adding that it is best to work with as many countries as possible to reduce development time and dependence on a single partner.
He added that cooperative tie-ups with Russia are still underway and that Korea could expand such tie-ups to countries like Japan, which is a leader in space exploration and rocket technology.
"We have developed technology in the past that has attracted the attention of other countries," he said, hinting Seoul can use such developments to arrange cooperative ties ups.
He claimed that by using its prowess in information technology, the country could actually be globally competitive in such areas as space cameras and computers.
The KSLV-2 is a follow-up to the KSLV-1 or Naro-1 rocket that was launched with Russian participation in August. The rocket lifted off successfully from the Naro Space Center 485 kilometers south of Seoul, but problems in the fairing assembly made it impossible for the satellite to stay in orbit. The fairing assembly located at the tip of the rocket covers the satellite.
"Despite the need to cooperate with others, it is the firm stance of the government to build a KSLV-2 using locally made components instead of imports," he said.
He said that the government hopes it will complete the new rocket by 2018.