S. Korea launches satellite into space

SEOUL, South Korea - A South Korean satellite was working normally and transmitting data on its orbit, officials said Thursday, a day after a launch that marked an advance in the country's space program at a time of high tensions over archrival North Korea's recent threat to test a third nuclear device.

The South Korean rocket blasted off from a launch pad Wednesday in the southwestern coastal village of Goheung. Science officials told cheering spectators minutes later that the rocket delivered an observational satellite into orbit. The ScienceMinistry gave an update on its operations in a brief statement.

The launch is a culmination of years of efforts by South Korea - Asia's fourth-largest economy - to advance its space program and cement its standing as a technology powerhouse whose semiconductors, smartphones, and automobiles command global demand. North Korea's long-range rocket program, in contrast, has generated international fears that it was getting closer to developing nuclear missiles capable of striking the United States.

South Korea's success comes amid increased tension on the Korean Peninsula over North Korea's threat to explode its third nuclear device. Pyongyang is angry over tough new international sanctions over its Dec. 12 rocket launch and has accused its rivals of applying double standards toward the two Koreas' space programs.

Washington and Seoul have called North Korea's rocket launch a cover for a test of Pyongyang's banned ballistic-missile technology.

North Korea recently acknowledged its long-range rockets had both scientific and military uses, and Kong Chang-duk, a professor of rocket science at South Korea's Chosun University, said the same argument could apply to the South.

But State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said there was no basis for comparing the South's and the North's rocket programs. Unlike the North, the South has developed its technology responsibly, she said, and is an active participant in international nonproliferation agreements, showing its program has no military intent.

Both Koreas see development of space programs as crucial hallmarks of scientific prowess and national pride, and both had high-profile failures before success.