Yi Whan-woo is a Korea Times journalist primarily covering finance. He writes in-depth articles on macroeconomy and financial markets and previously covered sports, politics, diplomacy and inter-Korean affairs, among others. Feel free to contact him at yistory@koreatimes.co.kr.
Italy steps up Seoul campaign on 55th anniversary of space exploration
By Yi Whan-woo
Marking Marking the 55th anniversary of the start of its venture into space exploration, Italy is stepping up a campaign regarding aerospace cooperation with Korea.
A commemorative poster for the 55th anniversary of Italy's space exploration
By Yi Whan-woo
Italy has a long and successful history when it comes to space exploration. During the space race in the 1960s, Italy was the third country after the Soviet Union and the United States to reach space in 1964, by deploying satellite San Marco 1.
With this background, the Office of the Italian Defense Attache in Korea picked conquest of space as its theme during a celebration of National Unity and Armed Forces Day last month.
Under the theme, Defense Attache Col. Gianluca Piccolomini highlighted Project 425 and the Vega-C launch pad. They involve Thales Alenia Italia and Avio Leonardo ― both subsidiaries of the Rome-headquartered Leonardo Company specialized in aerospace, defense and security.
Project 425 refers to two contracts that Thales Alenia Space Italia signed in late 2018 with the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Hanwha Systems, respectively, for joint development of high-resolution radar satellites.
The satellites are to be used by various Korean defense agencies for surveillance and intelligence purposes.
Having a long-standing relationship with Korea, the Rome-based aerospace manufacturer Thales Alenia Space is one of the world's leading companies in the field of design, development and construction of highly technological Earth observation satellites.
“It has earned the trust of Korea's National Ministry of Defense, after a long and fruitful cooperation on various project and ventures,” the Office of the Italian Defense Attache said.
Also in 2018, Italian aerospace company Avio and the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) inked a deal to launch Korean Multi-Purpose Satellite 7 (KOMPSAT 7) on the VEGA-C launch pad, which was developed by Avio.
KARI is responsible for operation of KOMPSAT 7, an all-weather observation satellite.
The planned launch year is 2021 in French Guiana, South America.
The Office of the Italian Defense Attache underscored the Vega-C launch pad is currently one of the main satellite launching systems used by the European Space Agency (ESA).
“This revolutionary launcher has an astonishingly high success rate, providing great flexibility for missions at an affordable cost,” it said.
The joint aerospace space cooperation came after Italy and Korea agreed to elevate their relationship to a strategic partnership during President Moon Jae-in's visit to Rome last year.
The upgraded ties set a diplomatic framework to push for deeper political, security and economic cooperation.
Meanwhile, Italian Ambassador to Korea Federico Failla, on behalf of his government, awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (OMIR) to Army Col. Hwang In-gook during the celebration of National Unity and Armed Forces Day in Seoul.
Being Italy's highest ranking honor, the order is awarded to individuals for their conspicuous service in civilian or military careers.
Col. Hwang served as defense attache at the Korean Embassy in Rome from 2015 to 2018.
National Unity and Armed Forces Day is celebrated in Italy every Nov. 4 since 1919 to mark the victory of World War I followed by the completion of national unification.
Col. Piccolomini has been serving in Korea since 2017.