S. Korea, Russia dispute on cause of rocket launch failure

South Korea and Russia attributed the cause of last year's failed launch of a jointly built space rocket to the other side, the South Korean government said Thursday. The Failure Investigation Group (FIG) for the two-stage satellite-carrier Naro-1, or the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 ( KSLV-1), held a three-day meeting in Seoul from Tuesday, however, they failed to agree on the conslusion of the opposite side, according to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The South Korean side said that the explosion was caused by a malfunction in the oxidation and compression systems in the Russian-made first-stage rocket. However, the Russian side said that the flight termination system in the South Korean-made second solid-fuel rocket caused self destruction. Despite the confrontation on the cause, both sides agreed to send recommendations for the third launch of the space rocket, one for South Korean side to improve the flight termination system, as well as one for Russian side to take all necessary measures to ensure successful functioning of the first-stage rocket. The Naro-1 tasted two times of failure, the first attempt on Aug. 25, 2009 and the second on June 10, 2010, for which the South Korean government has spent 502.5 billion won (407 million U.S. dollars) since 2002 to build the rocket and learn related technologies with Russian assistance and technical supervision.