Seoul, Aug 19 (DPA) South Korea Wednesday cancelled the launch of its first space rocket at the last minute owing to technical problems.

With only eight minutes to go in the countdown, mission controllers decided to suspend the launch of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, which was to send a scientific satellite into orbit, the South Korean science ministry said.

The Russian-made rocket had been scheduled for a 5 p.m. (0800 GMT) lift-off.

'There was a problem in the automatic launch sequence that caused the launch to be called off,' the head of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

A new launch date was to be set after consultation with Russian experts, he added.

The launch of the $402 million rocket from the country's space centre on the south coast had been marred by a series of delays.