In theory, the system could be ready for launching by 2017 or 2018.
But a last-minute technical problem set back the launching by about two hours.
Instead, future systems should be designed so that they can be rapidly prepared for launching by small teams.
He lauded the launching by the coalition government of the national security council and the strategic defence and security review.
Adeos II is scheduled for launching by a Japanese H-IIA rocket on Friday at the Tanegashima Space Center.
A storm front moving toward Florida could force a delay in the launching by a day or more.
Analysts in Seoul say that a rocket launching by the North, whether successful or not, would merely harden the policy approaches of the leading South Korean parties.
Experts continue to debate whether flight evolved through gliding by an arboreal ancestral bird or through aerial launching by a running terrestrial ancestor.
The system's "kill vehicles" are meant to zoom into space and destroy enemy warheads — presumably a single North Korean launching — by force of impact.
