[Korea.net News, Science / Tech, February 9 2008] The vision and strategy of the Korean aerospace industry

By Dr. Hwang Chin-young
Director of Policy and International Relations Division
Korea Aerospace Research Institute

The aerospace industry is recognized as a high technology-oriented, high value-added and also strategically important industry. Especially in the 21st century, as air and space have been used more and more in various ways, many countries have become interested in the aerospace industry.

Korea joined the aircraft industry in late 1970s by producing 500MD helicopters under the license agreement with McDonnel Douglas of the United States. The country joined the space industry after 10 years of developing project of the KITSAT-1 satellite. The satellite was invented by KAIST SaTRec in cooperation with Surrey University in the U.K.