South Korea says it has made its first successful launch of a solid-fuel rocket in what it called a major step towards acquiring a space surveillance capability.

The launch came six days after rival North Korea conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile test since 2017 in an apparent attempt to expand its weapons arsenal and increase pressure on the US amid stalled talks.

South Korea’s domestically built solid-propellant rocket was launched from a state-run testing facility in the presence of defence minister Suh Wook and other senior officials, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

It said solid-fuel rockets have simpler structures and are cheaper to develop and manufacture than liquid-fuel rockets. It said solid-fuel rockets also reduce launch times.

The statement said South Korea will soon launch a spy satellite into orbit aboard a solid-fuel rocket.

South Korea has no military reconnaissance satellite of its own and depends on US spy satellites to monitor strategic facilities in North Korea.

In 2020, South Korea won US consent to use solid fuel for space launch vehicles, a restriction that Washington had previously imposed on its key Asian ally out of concerns that its use could lead to building bigger missiles and trigger a regional arms race.

Wednesday’s launch came amid tensions over North Korea’s ICBM launch last Thursday, which broke its own moratorium on big weapons tests and violated multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry concluded earlier this week that North Korea fired the Hwasong-15 ICBM, rather than the newer, bigger, longer-range Hwasong-17 that North Korea claimed to have tested.

“Coming at a very grave time following North Korea’s lifting of the weapons tests moratorium, this successful test-launch of the solid-fuel space launch vehicle is a key milestone in our military’s efforts to (build) a unilateral space-based surveillance system and bolster defence capability,” the South Korean statement said.

The rival Koreas remain divided along a heavily fortified border since their division at the end of the Second World War in 1945.

To cope with North Korea’s increasing nuclear threats, South Korea has been building and purchasing powerful conventional missiles, stealth fighter jets and other high-tech weapons systems.

But South Korea has no nuclear weapons and is under the protection of the US “nuclear umbrella”, which guarantees a devastating American response in the event of an attack on its ally.