A televised talent contest may be a good way of choosing a pop star, but South Korea has gone one better. The country now has its first astronaut, picked from 36,000 hopefuls who entered a competition. But behind the hype there is a serious purpose. South Korea is investing heavily in space technology and is due to launch its first rocket next year.

Kim Chang-Woo, director general for space technology at the ministry of science and technology, says the government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars with the ambition of joining the top 10 space-faring nations within a decade. “We want to raise the dreams and hopes of the young generation for the space programme. That’s why we opened the astronaut selection to the entire population.”

Putting the first Korean into space is one thing, but the real prize for all the investment is an independent rocket capability allowing South Korea to put its own satellites into space. Off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula the country’s first launch pad is under construction. The brand-new Naro Space Centre, being built on an island 500km south of Seoul, is a major project. Tonnes of earth have been cut away from the side of a mountain to create the flattened area for the launch towers.

But not everyone is ready to welcome the arrival of South Korea as a space power. “This is dual-use technology,” according to Daniel Pinkston from the conflict prevention think-tank, the International Crisis Group. He believes that the ability to put rockets into space could have a military application, potentially altering the strategic balance in East Asia. The US in particular, he says, has not been keen to help the South Koreans develop their own space programme.

“They did go to the Americans, and expected them to be forthcoming and provide the technology transfers. But in fact the US government, because of proliferation concerns, has blocked them.”
So the South Koreans have turned to the Russians for help. At a price, of course. The first rocket launch is now expected to take place toward the end of next year. It will carry a 100kg multi-purpose science satellite into low-earth orbit.

But the hope is that within a few years this new venture will be a revenue-earner. The ambition is to corner up to 10 per cent of the international space market, selling technology and providing launch services to other nations. So the towering cost of South Korea’s space programme is justified by its government in terms of long-term commercial benefits and national pride.
And Paik Hong-yul, president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute insists that the intentions are entirely peaceful.

The Russians are also being paid to train South Korea’s first astronaut. The lucky winner, having survived a series of grueling mental and physical tests for the televised competition, is a 30-year-old research scientist, Ko San. He is due to fly with two Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station in 2008, becoming the first spaceman from a country rushing to join the space race.

BBC News