South Korea, U.S. agree to strengthen 'space alliance' during NASA facility visit

April 26 (UPI) -- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol opened his state visit to Washington on Tuesday by touring a NASA facility, after the United States and South Korea signed a joint statement to strengthen their space alliance.

Vice President Kamala Harris traveled with Yoon to the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland where they were briefed on work to address space science and climate change.

Yoon arrived in Washington on Monday for a six-day visit to the United States, highlighting the 70th anniversary of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, which was forged after the Korean War in 1953.

"This year, we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the alliance between the United States and South Korea, which has been a linchpin of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the world," Harris said Tuesday in a speech at Goddard.

"Today, we focus on one component of our alliance in particular: space, understanding the connection to our shared priorities on the issues of security and prosperity for our nations," she said.

"I've always believed that mankind's future lies in space," Yoon said.

"I hope that growing bilateral collaboration in space will enable the two allies to play a leading role in ensuring that benefits of space exploration are shared by all people around the world and take the helm in establishing fair and rational principles for use of outer space," Yoon added as he announced his country's own space agency.

"I laid out the Space Economy Roadmap, which aims to put Korea on a solid path toward becoming one of the world's top five leaders in space technology by reaching the moon for resource extraction by 2032 and landing people on Mars by 2045," Yoon said.

"And under that vision, we're in the process of establishing a Korean equivalent of NASA, called 'KASA,' to spearhead this initiative," Yoon added. "With KASA on the way, cooperation between KASA and NASA down the road will be the driving force behind forging a strong space alliance."

Harris highlighted future plans for the space alliance as South Korea prepares to fly payloads through NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

"And in the future, we look forward to expanding our collaboration on the Artemis program, which will return astronauts to the moon for the first time in 50 years and lay the groundwork for our mission to Mars," Harris said.

Besides visiting Goddard, Yoon joined his wife, Kim Keon-hee, at the Korean War Memorial with President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, where they participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pool of Remembrance.

On Wednesday, Biden and Yoon plan to announce a "major" update to the United States' extended nuclear deterrence commitment as the North Korean threat remains high on both leaders' agenda.

During his time in Washington, Yoon will also hold a joint press conference with Biden and address Congress.