WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States and South Korea have signed an agreement on cooperation in the exploration and use of airspace, the US State Department announced in a press release on Wednesday.
“On April 27, 2016, at the opening of the second US-Republic of Korea (ROK) Civil Space Dialogue, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea Yun Byung-se and the US Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Mark Lippert signed a Framework Agreement for Cooperation in Aeronautics and the Exploration and Use of Airspace and Outer Space for Civil and Peaceful Purposes.”
The agreement describes potential collaboration between the two countries in areas like cutting-edge planetary exploration, earth observation and science, as well as further understanding of heliophysics, the State Department explained.
In December, local media reported that South Korea planned to launch a lunar exploration project in 2016 with a 2020 timeframe of landing a lunar vessel, and to independently develop an orbiter and a ground station using domestic technologies.
In October 2015, US President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye committed to expanding space cooperation during a summit in the United States.
