The head of the state arms procurement agency says the military plans to launch the first homegrown reconnaissance satellite next month.

At a parliamentary audit on Monday, Defense Acquisition Program Administration(DAPA) minister Eom Dong-hwan said the satellite launch is expected to lay the foundation for an era of a South Korean space force.

The satellite development program is part of a project worth one-point-two trillion won, or around 886 million U.S. dollars, to strategize five recon satellites by the mid-2020s in response to North Korea’s missile threats.

Four are high-performance synthetic aperture radar satellites and one is an electro-optical and infrared satellite.

Also during the audit, the DAPA chief said the nation's cutting-edge KF-21 fighter jet is being prepared for mass production next year.