(LEAD) S. Korea successfully conducts test flight of solid-fuel space vehicle: defense ministry

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SEOUL, Dec. 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea successfully conducted a test flight of a solid-fuel space launch vehicle on Friday, the defense ministry said, nine months after its first test of the homegrown rocket.

The test came after North Korea claimed earlier this month to have staged a test of a "high-thrust, solid-fuel" rocket motor to develop a "new-type" strategic weapon system.

The ministry did not disclose any further details.

In March, the state-run Agency for Defense Development carried out the first test of an indigenous solid-fuel space rocket at a testing site in Taean, 150 kilometers southwest of Seoul, to confirm its capabilities.

The rocket is designed to put a small satellite into a low Earth orbit for surveillance operations. Compared with liquid-fuel space vehicles, solid-fuel ones are known to be usually simpler and more cost-effective to launch.

The ministry has said it plans to launch an actual satellite mounted on the rocket in the future following additional development procedures.

Seoul's space rocket project gained momentum after Seoul and Washington agreed last year to lift the "missile guidelines" restrictions that had barred the South from developing or possessing ballistic missiles with a maximum range greater than 800 kilometers.

sshluck@yna.co.kr
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