Korea, US to sign space cooperation pact

By Yoon Sung-won

The government has concluded talks with the United States on boosting cooperation for space development and will sign a pact soon, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said Monday.

The ministry said the two countries reached an agreement to build a legal and institutional framework to boost collaboration in researching space science, and technologies to promote earth observation and space exploration.

“Korea will have full-scale cooperation with the United States, which has the world’s top space technologies,” the ministry said in a statement. “Accordingly, the Korean government’s space development projects are expected to gain momentum.”

This is the first time for the U.S. to agree on a deal for space cooperation with an Asian nation, the ministry said. Asia’s space technology powerhouses such as China, Japan and India have reached multiple institutional-level deals with the U.S. but not government-to-government agreements, the ministry said.

The ministry said Korea will get U.S. help in developing a lunar orbiter and landing module, satellites and the ability to launch probes to explore Mars and asteroids.

“The unmanned lunar exploration project that the government is pushing ahead with aimed at 2020 needs cooperation with the U.S. in lunar orbiter and space navigation technology,” the ministry said. “We expect that the agreement will work as a key accelerator for the country to gain an independent capability for space exploration development.”

The agreement came as a part of the two countries’ cooperation plans to cover issues ranging from space and cyberspace to health, the environment, energy and other technologies.

The discussions on space cooperation between Korea and the U.S. started in 2010, and gained momentum after a summit between President Park Geun-hye and President Barack Obama in October last year.