South Korea and the U.S. Strengthen Cooperation on Space Communication and Lunar Research

Taking advantage of President Yoon Suk-yeol's state visit to the United States, South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to cooperate in the fields of space communication and lunar research.

According to major foreign media on the 24th (local time), Minister Lee Jong-ho of the Ministry of Science and ICT and Pam Melroy, Deputy Administrator of NASA, will sign a joint letter of intent for cooperation in space exploration and science at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland on the 25th.

Building on this, the two countries plan to collaborate in space research and strengthen cooperation in space communication, space navigation, and lunar research.

The signing of this joint letter of intent takes place just before President Yoon visits Vice President Kamala Harris and the Goddard Center. Following President Yoon’s visit, discussions are likely to proceed on how South Korea will participate in the Artemis program, the U.S.-led manned lunar exploration project. The Artemis Accords include South Korea among the major U.S. allies participating.

In particular, the space sector is one of the areas where South Korea is putting significant effort into cooperation with the U.S. North Korea has recently claimed to have completed its first military reconnaissance satellite and plans to launch it, intensifying its satellite development efforts, making it urgent to curb this. The U.S. is also strengthening space cooperation with its allies to respond to challenges from competitors such as China.

So far, South Korea has steadily developed satellite technology since launching its first scientific satellite, Uri Byul 1, in 1992. The South Korean military plans to launch an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) satellite for the reconnaissance satellite project '425 Project' this November, aboard Elon Musk, Tesla CEO’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

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