South Korea may have its first man in space by 2007.

The Ministry of Science and Technology Wednesday announced a plan to put a South Korean man in orbit aboard a foreign spacecraft.

The ministry will pick about ten candidates for the project next year and train them over the next two to three years.

The person selected for the mission will likely travel in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft accompanied by a professional astronaut to the International Space Station.

The project will be funded by the government and organized by a private company or research institute.

A ministry official expects the project to cost about 13 million U-S dollars, most of which will be paid to Russia.