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Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korea says it plans to make a new attempt on Wednesday at launching a rocket intended to put a satellite in orbit, a feat it has failed to achieve on previous occasions.

The pressure on the South Korean rocket scientists has increased since the country's hostile neighbor, North Korea, carried out its own successful launch last month in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Only weeks before that, the South was forced to suspend its previous attempt to launch the Naro-1 rocket after finding problems with the electronic signal in part of the rocket's mechanism just minutes before it was due to take off.

Officials say the technical issues have been resolved and the rocket is scheduled to take off from a launch site on the country's southern coast on Wednesday afternoon.

Pyongyang threatens South Korea

It comes at a delicate time on the Korean peninsula: North Korea said last week that it plans to conduct a new nuclear test and carry out more rocket launches after the U.N. Security Council voted to tighten sanctions on the secretive regime.

Pyongyang didn't say when it intends to carry out the nuclear test, which follows previous underground detonations in 2006 and 2009.

Although the North's rocket launch last month managed to put an object in space, it was widely considered to be a test of long-range ballistic missile technology.

In its saber-rattling statements last month, North Korea said its missile and nuclear program were part of a new phase of confrontation with the United States. It also threatened "physical counter-measures" against South Korea if it participates in the imposition of the new sanctions.

South Korean authorities say their latest attempted satellite launch is a crucial step for the development of the country's civilian space program. The satellite carried by the launch vehicle is mainly intended for gathering climate data, they say.

Analysts have said the South Korean launch is different from that of the North because it is more transparent, clearly focused on civilian applications and doesn't contravene U.N. sanctions.

The development of the South Korean rocket program, using Russian technology for the first-stage launcher, began in 2002.

Previous launch attempts in 2009 and 2010 failed.

Seoul is aiming to develop its own thruster by 2021 through a program estimated to cost 1.5 trillion won (about $1.4 billion).

A successful launch Thursday would put South Korea among the small group of nations that have sent a rocket into space from their own soil. Others include the United States, Russia, China, Japan, France, India, Israel, Iran and North Korea.