SEOUL, February 1. /TASS/. The republic of Korea has canceled an agreement with Russia on the launch of the Arirang-6 satellite on Angara 1.2 rocket and picked the Vega-C rocket co-developed by the European Space Agency for this purpose, the Yonhap agency reported on Wednesday.

"The Korea Multipurpose Satellite 6, known as the Arirang 6, was originally planned to be launched on Russia's Angara 1.2 vehicle last year from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwestern Russia," the agency wrote.

But in September, the Ministry of Science and ICT informed the parliament of the Republic of Korea about the growing difficulties due to the sanctions the "international community" had imposed against Moscow in connection with Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

Instead of the Russian rocket, the Ministry of Science chose a rocket developed by the European Space Agency. However, the launch is expected only in the fourth quarter of 2023. At the moment, Vega-C is being tested due to an unsuccessful start in December.

The Vega-C rocket was supposed to launch the Pleiades Neo 5 and Pleiades Neo 6 Earth remote sensing satellites into orbit on December 21. However, about 2 minutes 27 seconds after launch, the engine failed. After the incident, the launches of this rocket were suspended.

Besides that, the ministry is working on rescheduling the launch of a next-generation midsized observational satellite, which was scheduled to be aboard Russia's Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the agency added.

"It is forecast to launch the satellite in the first half of next year if the launch provider is selected in March as planned," the agency said.