1. Reasons for Amendment

Private enterprises and the public sector are working toward repeated launches of space objects within the next one to two years, which has raised concerns that the current case-by-case permission system may result in administrative and financial burdens and other inefficiencies.

There has also been a request to make an exception allowing the Minister of National Defense to grant permission for launches when urgently requested due to security reasons and in light of the rapid increase in the requirement for military satellites. 

Accordingly, this Amendment aims to facilitate rapid access to space in the New Space era and contribute to the promotion of the space industry and economy by newly inserting launch licenses and newly inserting an exception concerning authority for launch permissions when necessary for security reasons.

2. Major Provisions

A. Newly insert provisions to allow the issuance of a launch license as a batch permission for repeated launches of the same space object from the same launch facility, in addition to the existing case-by-case permission (Article 11-2). 

B. Specify that the Minister of National Defense shall also have the authority to grant launch permissions for space objects for national defense (Article 11 (6)).