Korean Committee of Space Technology


The Korean Committee of Space Technology was the agency of the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea responsible for the country's space program. The agency was terminated and succeeded by the National Aerospace Development Administration in 2013 after the Law on Space Development was passed in the 7th session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly.

History

Very little information on it is publicly available. It is known to have been founded sometime in the 1980s, and most likely is connected to the Artillery Guidance Bureau of the Korean People's Army.

Operations

The KCST was responsible for all operations concerning space exploration and construction of satellites. On 12 March 2009, North Korea signed the Outer Space Treaty and the Registration Convention, after a previous declaration of preparations for a new satellite launch.

Facilities

The KCST operated the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground and Sohae Satellite Launching Station rocket launching sites, Baekdusan-1 and Unha launchers, Kwangmyŏngsŏng satellites.
South Korea and the United States accused North Korea of using these facilities and the rockets as a cover for a military ballistic missile testing program.
The DPRK twice announced that it had launched satellites: Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1 on 31 August 1998 and Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 on 5 April 2009. The USA and South Korea predicted that the launches would in actuality be military ballistic missile tests, but later confirmed that they had followed orbital launch trajectories.
In 2009, the DPRK announced more ambitious future space projects including own manned space flights and development of a manned partially reusable launch vehicle. Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 was launched on 13 April 2012 and ended in failure shortly after launch. A follow-up attempt the following December, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2 entered polar orbit as confirmed by various countries.

Launch history

This is a list of satellites launched.
SatelliteLaunch Date
RocketLaunch SiteStatusPurpose
Kwangmyŏngsŏng-131 August 1998PaektusanTonghae Satellite Launching GroundTechnology experimental satellite
4 July 2006Unha-1Rocket test
Kwangmyŏngsŏng-25 April 2009Unha-2Tonghae Satellite Launching GroundCommunications satellite
Kwangmyŏngsŏng-313 April 2012Unha-3Sohae Satellite Launching StationObservation satellite
Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 212 December 2012Unha-3Sohae Satellite Launching StationObservation satellite
Kwangmyŏngsŏng-47 February 2016UnhaSohae Satellite Launching StationObservation satellite