Posts tagged ‘Moscow’
On 3 November 2011, several South Korean media outlets have released articles highlighting research by the Russian Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), which contends Korean unification will occur by 2020.
On 1 February 2011, the Ministry of Science, Education and Technology confirmed that a fourth round of meetings with Russian officials, held 24-27 December 2010, had failed to achieve a consensus on the causes for the failure of the second Naro-1 launch.
The second launch of the Naro-1 on 10 June 2010, failed 137 seconds into the flight. The first launch of the Naro-1 on 25 August 2009, failed due to the unsuccessful detachment of fairings on the second-stage vehicle. Differences over the cause of the second launch failure are unlikely to be resolved with both sides unable to agree upon a way to overcome the current impasse.
A third launch is required under the current technology cooperation agreement. A third launch requires the construction another first-stage vehicle. In purely financial terms, this will prove more costly to Russia than cancelling the agreement. This has heightened tension, which has existed between Korean and Russian staff since cooperation began, with the former seeking to maximise and the latter seeking to minimise access to technology.
Despite the tension, cooperation is likely to continue with Russian policymakers seeking to use its capability in aviation, defence and space-related technology to lower Russia’s long outstanding debt to Korea, estimated to be around USD560 million.
