South Korea, U.S. accelerate space cooperation amid missile threats

Damin Jung

South Korea and the United States are expanding their initiatives to shape military cooperation in the space domain. The longtime allies’ move comes amid growing threats in the region, including North Korea’s first successful spy satellite launch and its increasing illegal exchange of weapons and resources with Russia, officials said.

Enhancing the integration of space assets into the comprehensive defense strategy of the Republic of Korea (ROK)-U.S. alliance was the focus of discussions between Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, in Seoul, South Korea, in late April 2024. The nations agreed to develop a joint space operations strategy and framework, establish a military consultative body focusing on space affairs, and launch tabletop exercises (TTX) in the space domain to strengthen capabilities, South Korea’s National Defense Ministry stated.

“As the militaries of the United States and South Korea have already launched a TTX on the space domain at the ministerial level, they are now planning to specify it with affiliated forces and hold working-level discussions on a regular basis,” said Jung Yung-jin, a professor with the Korea National Defense University, referring to a September 2023 exercise by the nations’ defense ministries.

“Space military operations have different characteristics from ground, air or maritime ones, which unfold on territorially local levels, in that they involve orbits encompassing the entire Earth,” Jung told FORUM. “As satellites continue to fly in their orbits across different regions, the allies need to establish a common technological system by holding working-level discussions through the new consultative body.”

Kim also met with U.S. Space Force Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, in Seoul in early May. The leaders agreed to expand joint exercises while enhancing cooperation in training space experts, among other efforts.

Since it was established in 2019, the U.S. Space Force has focused on missile threats, including from North Korea and the People’s Republic of China. It activated its first overseas branch in South Korea in December 2022.

Jung said the acceleration of the allies’ space force cooperation follows South Korea’s significant gains in space technologies. Seoul launched its first military surveillance satellite in December 2023, with the ROK Armed Forces seeking to strengthen strike and surveillance operations in the region, enabling preemptive action against North Korean missile threats.

“When regularizing a TTX, the capabilities of military assets between the two countries need to be balanced to some extent,” Jung said. “The allies could push forward as South Korea’s military assets are now equipped with a certain level of technology that allows cooperation with the United States.”

Damin Jung is a FORUM contributor reporting from Seoul, South Korea.