SEOUL, May 10 (Xinhuanet) -- South Korea developed a technology that fires a guided missile in mid-air after vertically ejecting it from a launching pad, a local state-run defense agency said Monday.

    Thus, South Korea became the world's second nation to develop the "cold launch" technology after Russia, Shim Woo-jeon, a principal researcher at the Agency for Defense Development, was quoted by South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

    The technology is mainly aimed at reducing flames at the time of blast-off to keep enemy forces from detecting the launching site, Shim said in a press briefing.

    He also said if cold launch-based missiles are deployed on navy vessels, more missiles could be carried by ships of a given size because equipment to extinguish flames would not be needed.

    "This technology is expected to greatly strengthen the South Korean military's force improvement program" by its application to the development of medium-range anti-aircraft missiles as well as short-range surface-to-air missiles, Shim said.

    Russia had been the sole nation with cold launch technology since developing it in the early 1980s. Enditem¡¡