S. Korea, US agree on first joint space policy research

South Korea and the United States have signed their first bilateral document on joint space policy research, Seoul's defense ministry said Tuesday, in the allies' latest push to reinforce cooperation in the increasingly crucial security domain.

Cho Yong-geun, the ministry's director of North Korea policy, and John D. Hill, US deputy assistant secretary of defense for space and missile defense, inked the document during a session of the Space Cooperation Working Group (SCWG) in Washington on Monday.

The SCWG is the two countries' working-level consultative body on space security cooperation. Since its inaugural session in 2013, they have held a total of 18 SCWG sessions, including the latest one.

The document puts forward directions of the allies' space security policies and includes a series of projects aimed at strengthening their capabilities to counter growing space security threats, according to the ministry.

In line with the document, Seoul and Washington agreed to continue cooperation in sharing intelligence about the space domain, nurturing space experts through training and exercises, and enhancing interoperability for combined space operations.

At the 14th SCWG session in February 2020, Seoul first proposed such a space policy document. Since then, the two sides fine-tuned details before eventually signing it this week, the ministry said. (Yonhap)