South Korea and Russia plan to set up a joint investigation panel to determine the exact cause of the botched launch of a space rocket last year, the government said Thursday. According to Yonhap, the Naro-1 rocket, jointly built by the two countries, was lost shortly after takeoff from a space center on South Korea's south coast in June last year. The two sides have so far made little progress in pinpointing the cause. South Korea's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said the independent panel will be composed of 30 engineers and scientists from the two countries and will likely hold its first meeting before the end of July. No government officials or representatives from the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) or Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center will sit on the new panel, although Seoul and Moscow pledged full support for the investigation process, the ministry said.