The Pentagon, cropped square (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/CCL)
SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea and the United States have agreed to hold a new table-top exercise against space-based threats next year, Seoul’s defense ministry said Friday, amid efforts to bolster security cooperation in the increasingly important domain.
Defense officials from the two countries agreed to stage the discussion-based exercise for the first time in the first half of next year during their regular working-level talks on space cooperation in Washington on Thursday, according to the ministry.
The two sides agreed to regularly hold the exercise once a year to hone their capabilities to respond to increasing threats from the domain, the ministry said.
They also agreed for the South Korean military to take part in the U.S.-led Joint Commercial Operations cell, which conducts space domain awareness activities by utilizing civilian space monitoring systems around the world.
In addition, the two sides agreed to accelerate efforts to establish a shared early warning system next year to improve capabilities in detecting and responding to North Korean missiles, it said.
They also “strongly” condemned North Korea’s Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile launch last Thursday, calling it a “clear” violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The talks came after the defense chiefs of the two countries endorsed the working group’s efforts to improve space situational awareness information sharing and interoperability during their annual security talks last month.
(Yonhap)
