NASA and South Korea science agency will sign a pact on Tuesday (April 25) to boost the two countries’ cooperation in space, a White House official said, as the two allies met this week to expand high-tech partnerships and security ties. deter North Korea.
The agreement comes as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol embarks on his country’s first state visit to Washington this week in 12 years for a bilateral summit marking the 70th anniversary of the US-South Korea alliance.
NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and South Korea’s Science Ministry and ICT chief Jong-Ho Lee will sign a joint statement of intent for space exploration and science cooperation at the U.S. space agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland on Tuesday, a White House official said. and a NASA official said.
The joint statement, to be signed ahead of a tour of Goddard with Yoon and US Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, will affirm the countries’ aim to cooperate in several areas such as space communications, space navigation and lunar exploration. a White House official said.
South Korea developing its own space and launch capabilities
South Korea has been developing its own space and launch capabilities in recent years while moving closer to the U.S. space effort as global military activity in Earth orbit increases and civilian space exploration reemerges as a key tool of diplomacy.
Seoul signed the Artemis Accords in 2021, a US-led bilateral pact mapping out norms of behavior in space and on the lunar surface, and last year launched its Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter aboard a SpaceX rocket to conduct scientific observations in lunar orbit.
US Forces Korea established the country’s space force in December to monitor, detect and track incoming missiles, after South Korea established its own space unit as part of its air force the same month.
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