Space Agency to Launch as Early as May... Yoon: "A Great Step Toward Becoming a Space Power"

Passed 'Space Aviation Agency Act' in National Assembly Plenary Session... 9 Months After Government Legislative Proposal
The Act Will Be Enforced 4 Months After Promulgation... Expected to Be Established in Sacheon, Gyeongnam as Early as May

President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 9th at the National Assembly plenary session, regarding the passage of all related bills for the establishment of the Space Aviation Agency, that "South Korea has taken a great step forward toward becoming a space power." The bills, which were proposed as government legislation in April last year, passed the National Assembly after 9 months, and the Space Aviation Agency, Korea's equivalent of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), is expected to launch as early as May.

At the plenary session of the National Assembly on the same day, the Special Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Space Aviation Agency (Space Aviation Agency Act), the Space Development Promotion Act, and the Government Organization Act amendment were passed. The Space Aviation Agency Act was promoted in line with President Yoon's pledge to establish a national control tower to lead space development.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The act will take effect four months after its promulgation. The Space Aviation Agency is scheduled to be established in Sacheon, Gyeongnam, around May to June this year. The bill mainly stipulates that the Space Aviation Agency will be established as an institution under the Minister of Science and ICT and supervised by the Presidential National Space Committee.

The Space Aviation Agency will be responsible for cross-ministerial policy formulation, industry promotion, workforce development, and international exchange in the space aviation sector. It will start with a workforce of up to 300 people and plans to continuously expand its scale through talent recruitment. The provision to place the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute under the agency was also included to maintain the R&D functions of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute.

The establishment of the Space Aviation Agency, a key pledge of the Yoon administration, had been pending for a long time as the ruling and opposition parties formed a committee to discuss the special act but failed to reach an agreement. Since the government submitted the bill to the National Assembly last April, the parties engaged in intense debates over the agency's status, scope of work, and organizational structure.

President Yoon also urged the prompt passage of the Space Aviation Agency Act in the National Assembly. During his state visit to the U.S. in April last year, President Yoon introduced the plan to establish the Space Aviation Agency while visiting NASA's space center and mentioned, "Korea-U.S. space cooperation will be further solidified as a space alliance through KASA (Korea Aerospace Space Agency) and NASA."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.