The will alone can’t make you a space power

Through the momentum of the 70th anniversary of the Korean War on June 25, North Korea must brood over why South Korea could rebuild itself from war rubble while it couldn’t.

Jeong Yong-sooThe author is an editorial writer and the director of the Unification and Culture Research Institute of the JoongAng Ilbo. At 6:53 a.m. Sept. 25, 2022, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile presumed to be KN-23 towards the East Sea from Taechon, North Pyongan Province. It flew 600 kilometers (373 miles), a distance of reaching the southern coastal city of Busan if it was directed to the southwest. At that time, U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan had called on the Busan port to participate in a joint military exercise with South Korean forces. North Korea has since fired off missiles and multiple rocket launchers whenever South Korea held a military drill either alone or jointly with the U.S. Pyongyang has chosen to pivot towards direct provocation towards the South and the U.S.

At 9 a.m. on May 31, North Korea’s state mouthpiece Korea Central News Agency acknowledged that its first attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit failed after its newest “Chollima-1” satellite launch rocket crashed after liftoff due to instability in the engine and fuel system. It made a rare and quick admission after the launch of the rocket at 6:27 a.m. from a newly-built launch facility in Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan. The rushed launch took place just days after South Korea successfully put a payload of satellites into orbit with the homegrown Nuri rocket. The botched launch by North Korea was a bitter setback to Pyongyang’s tit-for-tat strategy.

On April 13, North Korea successfully fired a solid-fuel ICBM to an altitude of 6,045 kilometers. Yet the latest projectile to put a surveillance satellite at the altitude of 500 kilometers crashed into the Yellow Sea due to engine malfunction during the second-stage separation. The failure underscores the complication in space projects. An acquaintance I met last week wondered if North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would send the engineers to a prison camp to punish them for the failed launch. The officials responsible for the satellite launch could indeed have been reprimanded as Kim lost face on the global stage.

But they could be saved for the time being as Pyongyang has vowed to reattempt the launch. The May 31 launch was unconventional in many ways. Usually, rocket parts are assembled and hoisted up through a gantry on the launch pad. Gantries are needed to inject liquid fuel and oxidizer for the liftoff and flight until the launch. But the photos released by North Korea after the launch did not show any gantry on the ground, which suggests North Korea used a mobile transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) to fire off the rocket. Although the rocket was erected vertically in the conventional three-stage structure to feign a satellite launch, it may have been a test to shorten the time needed to inject fuel into a liquid-fuel ICBM.

Kim reiterated that science research was like “paving the way through heavy snow.” He also said, “People grow on food, while science soars to success through failures.” He would regard the recent failure as a medicine for a success next time.

But North Korean authorities must not forget other remarks by their leader. Kim said, “Science does not have borders.” As space development requires the highest level of technology, North Korea cannot achieve the goal without help from advanced countries.

The scene of North Korea’s botched launch of the Chollima-1 rocket, released by the Korean Central News Agency, the state mouthpiece of North Korea on June 1, just three hours after its failure. [YONHAP]

North Korea always emphasizes “self-sufficiency and doing things in our own way.” But unless the country steals technology from others, its space program will have limitations. The international community is running out of patience with North Korea. The country must surrender its ambition for military-purpose satellites and play its role as a member of the international community. Firing a missile or rocket for satellites without prior notice threatens the safety of civilians while escalating military tensions to meet the ego of the leader. It will find itself further isolated from the rest of the world, as no country would rush to help North Korea when it runs into trouble.

North Korean authorities indoctrinate the people, saying an egg implanted with ideology can break a rock. But science and technology cannot be achieved purely through the will. Through the momentum of the 70th anniversary of the Korean War on June 25, North Korea must brood over why South Korea could rebuild itself from war rubble while it couldn’t. South Korea has succeeded in putting satellites into orbit entirely through its own technology and the country also was elected to a non-permanent member on the UN Security Council. That should be a rude awakening for the regime in Pyongyang.