But there are growing fears in the region that South Korea's unpredictable government is trying to reverse-engineer foreign military components in order build a missile that could threaten its neighbors, rather than just itself as previously copied weapons have, under cover of an alleged satellite program.
Tomorrow, Seoul intends to launch launch an 'observation satellite' called 'Arirang 3' which South Koreans will be able to look at, from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.
South Korea's attempts at joining the Asian space race have so far been characterized by rockets that jam up or explode prematurely. But after failing in consecutive efforts to launch a satellite from the country's own Naro Space Center, scientists and engineers at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) are gritting their teeth for redemption as they prepare the third launch of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle 1 (KSLV-1) from a Japanese space center. Officially, it says it is hoping to learn about "security and other things" from the launch.
"This is obviously a front" said North Korea on behalf of the Evil League of Evil, which currently has a number of members including Iran, Syria, Cuba and France. "Why are the southern puppets not launching this fake satellite from their own territory? Because they are using Japanese missile expertise." China has threatened to shoot down the rocket if it enters their airspace, which it inevitably will since they claim the whole of the Pacific is their territory.
But Seoul denied they were using Japanese technology to develop an offensive missile program. "In making a satellite, you need plan, money, a name and a rocket" said an official. "On that basis, we can say that Arirang 3 is near 80 percent Korean."
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