Posted: Tue, Dec 26, 2006, 12:21 PM ET (1721 GMT)
The South Korean government has selected two people to complete for the rights to be that nation's first astronaut. In a ceremony televised across the nation Monday night, the Ministry of Science and Technology selected Ko San, a 30-year-old artificial intelligence researcher; and Yi So-yeon, a 28-year-old PhD student in biotechnology, as the two finalists for a seat on a Soyuz flight in 2008. The two were selected from more than 36,000 applicants. Ko and Yi will begin training in early 2007 for the spring 2008 taxi flight to the ISS. the flight is part of a space cooperation agreement between Russia and South Korea which also includes Russian assistance for South Korea's development of an indigenous launch vehicle.

Related Links:

•  Korea Times article
•  Korea Herald article
•  JoongAng Daily article
•  Voice of America article
•  AFP article