S. Korea postpones rocket launch till end Nov: Official

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea has postponed a key satellite launch until the last week of November because of delays in the arrival of rocket parts from Russia, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"We plan to inform international agencies of a new launch period of between November 23 and 30," the science ministry's Research and Development Policy Director Yang Sung-Kwang told journalists.

After two failures in 2009 and 2010, the planned rocket launch is considered crucial for South Korea's efforts to join an elite club of nations - including Asian powers China, Japan and India - capable of putting a satellite in orbit.

The launch was originally scheduled for October 26 but it was cancelled at the last minute after engineers detected a broken rubber seal in a connector between the launch pad and the rocket's first stage.