US launches South Korea space force unit amid North Korea, China, Russia threats

‘Just 48 miles north exists an existential threat we must be prepared to defend against and, if required, defeat,’ said unit’s boss in Seoul, an hour from North Korea
Unit belongs to US Space Force which was launched in 2019 aimed at supporting interests in space, including navigation, intelligence, communication satellites

South Korea

Associated Press

Published: 10:02pm, 14 Dec 2022

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The US military formally launched a space force unit in South Korea on Wednesday, a move that is likely to enable Washington to better monitor its rivals North Korea, China and Russia.

The activation of the US Space Forces Korea at Osan Air Base near Seoul came after North Korea test-fired a barrage of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles designed to strike the US mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan in recent months.

“Just 48 miles north of us exists an existential threat; a threat that we must be prepared to deter, defend against, and – if required – defeat,” Lieutenant Colonel Joshua McCullion, chief of the new space unit, said during a ceremony at Osan. He apparently referred to North Korea, whose heavily fortified border with South Korea is an hour’s drive from Seoul, the South’s capital.

The unit belongs to the US Space Force, which was launched in December 2019 under then-President Donald Trump as the first new US military service in more than 70 years.

The Space Force was seen soberly as an affirmation of the need to more effectively organise for the defence of US interests in space, especially satellites used for civilian and military navigation, intelligence and communication. A previous Pentagon report said China and Russia had embarked on major efforts to develop technologies that could allow them to disrupt or destroy American and allied satellites in a crisis or conflict.

The US Space Forces Korea is a subordinate of a bigger US Space Force unit established within the Indo-Pacific command in Hawaii last month.

The insignia of the US Space Force unit in South Korea. Photo: EPA-EFE

Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defence Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said the US Space Force was created to bring together diverse surveillance assets including space-based satellites in one organisation to manage and develop them in an effective, systemic manner.

He said its unit in South Korea would work like a field unit while the one in the Indo-Pacific Command would be its headquarters.

“The US Space Forces Korea would maintain, operate and assess related equipment. Simply speaking, I would say the actual US space operations will be done at Osan Air Base,” Jung said. He said the main role of US Space Forces Korea would be receiving, processing and analysing a tremendous amount of data and information transmitted by US satellites.

“The US military is faster, better connected, more informed, precise and lethal because of space,” General Paul LaCamera, commander of the 28,500 US troops in South Korea, said during the ceremony. “Specifically, the activation here today, of US Space Forces Korea … enhances our ability to defend the homelands and ensure peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia.”

General Paul LaCamera (C-L) during a ceremony in South Korea on Wednesday to launch the US military’s space force unit there. Photo: EPA-EFE

Jung said the launch of a space unit in South Korea was primarily aimed at better monitoring North Korea, followed by China and then Russia.

The United States and South Korea have expanded their regular military drills and pushed to further bolster their combined defence capability in the face of North Korea’s advancing nuclear programme. North Korea has threatened to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively in potential conflicts with the United States and South Korea, and the US military warned the North that the use of nuclear weapons “will result in the end of that regime”.