South Korea plans to kick start a program to send five satellites into orbit by 2022 which will allow the military to keep close tabs on North Korea, defense officials said Thursday.

The project, dubbed "425 project," has been stalled for a year amid budget limitations, with the National Assembly allocating only 2 billion won in the 2016 budget out of 64.3 billion won requested by the defense ministry. 

"The ministry has set its sights on reaching a contract within the latter half of this year," a defense official said. "The timing of the project's kickoff has been delayed by one year ... but we will follow through with the goal to complete the project within the target date," he noted. 

Under the project, the military plans to launch five reconnaissance satellites by 2022 that have onboard cameras capable of taking clear images of an object on the Earth's surface with a diameter of 0.3-0.5 meters. 

Four of satellites will also be equipped with all-weather synthetic aperture radar, while one will carry electronic optics and infrared surveillance equipment.

With the new satellites, South Korea would be able to detect all launch preparations or other military activities by North Korea, including those involving mobile transport erector launchers, within two to three hours. (Yonhap)