Senior leaders of the US Space Force Space Operations Command recently visited South Korea, strengthening US-Korea cooperation in space activities, including both civilian and military operations.
On February 12th and 13th, 2025, US Space Force Space Operations Commander Lieutenant General David Miller Jr. and Chief Master Sargeant Caleb Lloyd visited Seoul, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), where they met with Lieutenant General Kim Hyoung Soo, Commander of the Republic of Korea Air Force Operation Command. This visit highlighted the strength and importance of the US-ROK alliance and space cooperation.
During the trip, US officials visited the ROK’s Space Operations Group and US Space Forces – Korea at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek. The trip discussed the first successful edition of exercise Polaris Hammer, a space warfighter-inclusive command-and-control exercise between the United States and the Republic of Korea, building trust and integration at both operational and strategic levels between the space forces of the two countries.
In May 2024, Chief of Space Operations General B. Chance Saltzman traveled to South Korea and met Admiral Kim Myung-Soo, Chairman of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff. They discussed the establishment of a military consultative body on space affairs, launching tabletop exercises (TTX) in space, as well as furthering technology cooperation amidst heightening tension in the region.
In addition to military cooperation, South Korea and the United States also regularly collaborate in the realms of space and space exploration. In September 2024, NASA and the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) signed a joint statement to advance cooperation in space exploration, science, and aeronautics. This partnership includes potential collaboration in NASA’s Moon to Mars Architecture and the utilization of Korea’s deep-space antenna.
The joint statement also mentioned South Korea’s signing of the Artemis Accords, laying the foundation for future space missions on the Moon through responsible activities, best practices and norms, as well as the release of scientific data for public research purposes. Korea and the United States have collaborated on the Danuri lunar orbiter, providing important information on potential landing sites for the Artemis III mission, the first manned mission to the moon in nearly seven decades. Previously, Korean space agencies and NASA have been working with data collected from the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter and NASA’s Deep Space Network.
Furthermore, the United States and the Republic of Korea have been operating satellites that collect environmental and pollution data across North America and the world. Notable examples include NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) and KASA’s Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS), which provide critical insights into the global challenge of improving air quality. The Republic of Korea is also building its own Korean Positioning System that will be integrated with the US-led GPS system.
South Korea has also been using US launch systems for their missions, including the Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX. Built in Hawthorne and launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the Falcon 9 carried the ROK’s first domestically developed military reconnaissance satellite in December 2023.
While US-Korea space cooperation is still in its early stages, it has already launched new frontiers in their bilateral relations. Military and civilian space cooperation between the US and South Korea helps protect peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, pushes the boundaries of space travel and exploration, strengthens governance in space, and provides new critical knowledge while benefitting both countries’ economies.
Alex Vu is a Spring 2025 Young Professional at the East-West Center in Washington. Alex is currently a junior at the University of South Florida, studying Econometrics & Political Science.