April 12 is International Day of Human Space Flight.

On April 12 1961, Yuri Gagarin, an astronaut of the Soviet Union, succeeded in a manned space flight for the first time in the world by safely returning to the earth after travelling round it for an hour and 48 minutes aboard spacecraft “Vostok”.

The successful flight was a historic event which ushered in a new era of conquering space humans have dreamed of for so long.

The 65th Session of the UN General Assembly held on April 7 2011 adopted a resolution on commemorating April 12 as International Day of Human Space Flight every year to mark the 50th anniversary of the manned space flight.

It reflects the unanimous wish of the international community that space science and technology would make a tangible contribution to the stable development and promotion of wellbeing of all countries and peoples.

Over the past 60-odd years since humans advanced for the first time into the vast outer space, space science and technology have undergone rapid development.

Outer space is rich in resources including orbits, high vacuum, highly clean environment, nongravity environment, space solar energy and the moon which are of great value in development and use.

By making use of these space resources humans can conduct  physical, engineering or breeding experiments which are hard or impossible to do in the earth, and through them obtain new materials like high-purity alloy or metal composite materials and new varieties of crops that are short in growing term and high in productivity.

As space, which brings enormous benefits to humankind, can be developed and used through artificial earth satellite and other space instruments, many countries launch satellites of various uses.

In the course of it marked achievements have been made in several fields including satellite carrying technology, development of new-type satellite, manned space flight and sounding in outer space.

The fact that developing countries take an active part in activities to conquer outer space shows that gone are the days when a few developed countries advanced into space in the past and a new era of space development, the era of multipolarization, has begun.

Space is not an exclusive property of a specific country, but the property of all humanity.

The fundamental principles of international space laws, including the Outer Space Treaty, specify that space is an asset common to humankind and that all sovereign states have the legitimate right to develop and use it.

Space development programmes also go full steam ahead in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in keeping with the spirit of the Outer Space Treaty which stipulates the worldwide development and use of space as the legitimate right of a sovereign state.

The National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA), founded on April 1 2013, has steadily spearheaded the country’s space conquering activities over the past 10-odd years.

In the period, it stepped up the introduction of the application technology into the buildup of national defence, economic construction and the improvement of the people’s living standards, as it made satellites multi-functional and high-performance and solved many technological problems related to satellite control and operation in a Korean way.

Last year, the reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1 was successfully launched as part of the efforts for attaining the immediate and long-term goals of the policy on conquering space. As a result, marked progress has been made in bolstering up the national defence capability and several reconnaissance satellites are expected to be launched this year.

Scientists and technicians have achieved a series of successes in research into core space science and technology with their extraordinary creative spirit and practical ability.

The development of space industry is of great significance in building a powerful socialist country today when its rapid development is firmly guaranteed by advanced science and technology and, accordingly, the need for space exploration and use is increasingly highlighted as the days go by.

For the accelerated development in the field of space, the DPRK government aims to carry out advanced and valuable space development projects on a priority basis from the viewpoint of the strategic interests of the state at the present stage and to build a space power by steadily expanding the successes.

As it has set it as a priority goal to possess meteorological, earth observation and communications satellites, it is now pushing ahead with the work to introduce space sci-tech achievements into various sectors including agriculture, fisheries, meteorological observation, communications, resources prospecting, land management and disaster prevention.

It is a clear fact that the growth of the space industry is a key element in providing a short-cut to securing the position of a world-class economic and sci-tech power and a demonstration of comprehensive national strength.

The DPRK will surely build a space power by putting sustained spurs to the independent space development.