South Korea president opens US tour with NASA space centre visit

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s six-day visit marks the 70th anniversary of the US-South Korean alliance, forged in 1953.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a NASA flight center on Tuesday as his country and the United States signed a joint statement to increase their cooperation on technology and space exploration.

“I’ve always believed that the future of humanity lies in space,” Yoon said in a speech from the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he was assisted by US Vice President Kamala Harris.

Yoon underlined his vision to transform South Korea into “one of the world’s top five space technology leaders”, with plans to reach the moon for “resource extraction” by 2032 and land astronauts on Mars by 2045 .

In her remarks, Harris called the US-South Korean alliance “a hub of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the world.”

She praised the alliance for addressing “some of the most important and pressing issues of our time,” including their “collective defense against aggression and provocation,” an apparent reference to North Korea and its recent missile tests.

Harris also spoke of a shared commitment to facing the climate crisis. “Together, our nations have built and put into orbit satellites that can monitor air pollution in North America and Asia,” she said.

“Today I also directed the National Space Council, which I lead, to expand this network to ensure it also covers the Southern Hemisphere, specifically the continent of Africa and South America. This cannot be a global initiative if countries around the world are excluded.”

Yoon’s visit to the spaceflight center – one of NASA’s original research centers – marked the first leg of a six-day US tour, which included a formal visit to the White House with his US counterpart, President Joe Biden.

The trip marks South Korea’s first state visit to Washington, D.C., in nearly 12 years and the first state visit by an Indo-Pacific leader during Biden’s tenure.

Yoon’s tour is also timed to the 70th anniversary of the 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty, which established the two countries’ alliance. He spent part of Tuesday visiting Arlington National Cemetery — a memorial site largely for military personnel — as well as the Korean War Memorial.

While in the US, Yoon is expected to push for more economic cooperation with Washington. Ahead of his meeting with Biden, he called for the bond between the countries to “jump into a new phase” and “evolve into a supply chain and forward-looking alliance in innovative technology.”

His journey coincided with several high-profile deals between US and South Korean industries.

On Monday, Netflix CEO Ted Sarando announced that his company would invest $2.5 billion in South Korean programming after meeting with Yoon. And on Tuesday, US automaker General Motors announced it would partner with Samsung SDI to build a $3 billion electric vehicle battery factory in the US.

In addition to economic ventures, the US teased “major deliverables” that will be announced during the formal visit on Wednesday, including “related to the threat” posed by North Korea.

“This visit, of course, also comes at a critical time as North Korea continues to develop its nuclear and missile capabilities,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the press Monday. “The two leaders will have the opportunity to discuss this closely.”

Sullivan’s statement comes as the US continues to grapple with the fallout from the release of classified documents online, some of which claim to show the Biden administration spying and pressuring South Korea to deliver munitions destined for Ukraine.

Those documents seemed to indicate tension between the two allies, though US officials have been quick to confirm that relations with South Korea are “iron strong”.

The US and South Korea are both part of the non-binding Artemis Accords, an agreement to collaborate on manned missions to the moon.

The agreement signed at the Goddard Space Center on Tuesday aims to reinforce that commitment, as well as collaboration between remote communications, navigation and technology.