Korea feared to lose W47 bil. for using Russian rockets

Korea is feared to lose a total of 47.2 billion won ($33 million) paid to Russia in deposits for contracts to use Russian rockets to put Korean satellites into orbit, according to an independent lawmaker, Thursday.

Data provided by the Ministry of Science and ICT to Rep. Park Wan-joo, who belongs to the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee, showed that the two countries had signed contracts allowing Russia to cancel the contracts without compensation, in the case of war or trade sanctions.

According to the ministry’s data, the government has already paid out taxpayers’ money worth 47.2 billion won to use Russian rockets to launch three satellites — the Korea Multipurpose Satellite 6, better known as Arirang 6, the next-generation, mid-size Satellite No. 2 and SNIPE, an acronym for “Small-scale magNetospheric and Ionospheric Plasma Experiment.”

Before the international sanctions were placed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the Korean government had initially planned to launch Arirang 6 using the Angara rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia and the Satellite No. 2 via Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan before the end of this year.

The launch of SNIPE was canceled earlier this year. The nanosat for meteorological observation was initially planned to be launched during the first half of this year from the Baikonur Cosmodrome via Soyuz.

Rep. Park urged the government to come up with countermeasures through cooperation among the multiple ministries related to this issue.

According to the lawmaker, the science ministry has already asked the National Assembly to draw up an additional 88.1-billion-won budget to launch Arirang 6 and Satellite No. 2 by using other countries’ rockets, such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 or the European Space Agency’s Ariane.

The government is also seeking to use Russian rockets to launch other satellites with the money already paid to Russia for SNIPE’s launch.

“Korea should not rely heavily on a specific country’s scientific technologies,” Rep. Park said. “In order to brace for natural disasters and wars, the government should diversify its partners.”