South Korea is moving closer to mastering nuclear fusion reactions. 

The Daejeon-based National Fusion Research Institute said on Wednesday that for the first time ever, their artificial sun, K-STAR, was successfully able to sustain fusion temperatures at 100 million degrees Celsius for one-point-five seconds. 

One-hundred million degrees is seven times hotter than the core of the sun and a milestone temperature in the field of nuclear fusion research. For an energy-generating nuclear fusion reaction to occur on Earth, plasma field need to be sustained at a temperature of 150 million degrees for at least 300 seconds. 

K-STAR, or the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research, is a fusion energy device, which is intended to study the area of magnetic fusion energy. 

The institute says its next target is to maintain the temperature for at least ten seconds.