A space race on the Korean Peninsula

Subject: International Relations

Section: Places in news

Context:

South Korea for the first time used an indigenous launch vehicle to place a mission-capable satellite in orbit, and a few days later, North Korea launched a new rocket design from a new facility.
Details:
South Korea’s Nuri launcher is its first entirely indigenous design, and Seoul has ambitions of placing military and civilian satellites in orbit.
- Nuri: It is a three-stage rocket and is powered by five rocket engines for completing its first and second stages. Another engine is used in the final stage of the rocket. Rocket is designed to carry a payload of around 1.5 tons to an orbit between 600 to 800 kilometres above Earth.
- South Korea’s Naro Space Center, located at the sea on southern Oenaro Island, opened in 2009 and has expanded in recent years.
The North Korea’sChollima-1 booster appears more advanced than anything it has flown to date, although its maiden test in May ended in failure.
- North Korea built its first satellite launching facility at the eastern site of Tonghae in 1985. Sohae, on the west coast, was completed in 2011.
- The Chollima-1 was launched from a new pad at Sohae.

What is the US-North Korea Conflict?

During the Cold War era, the US extended its Nuclear Umbrella (guarantee of support during a nuclear attack) to its allies i.e. South Korea and Japan.
North Korea withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003 and afterwards, under present leader Kim Jong-un, it increased nuclear missile testing.
In response to this, the US started deploying THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) in South Korea in March 2017.
The territorial conflict which started between North and South Korea has transformed into a tussle between the US and North Korea.