South Korea and the US pledged to expand their defence alliance into orbit at their inaugural joint space forum this week, as the countries seek deeper co-operation in response to emerging threats from adversaries including North Korea and China.
Seoul and Washington agreed to bolster their partnership in areas spanning defence, commerce and civil space exploration. It comes as South Korea has raised its ambitions for independent launch and surveillance capacities, amid an intensifying Asian space race.
“Space is becoming increasingly militarised and weaponised?.?.?.?turning [it] into a giant geopolitical chessboard,” South Korean foreign minister Park Jin told the forum on Monday.