Yoon Young-bin, Head of the Space Agency, "In 2025, We Must Seize the Opportunity for the Era of Aerospace Dominance"

Revealed Through New Year's Address

Yoon Young-bin, Administrator of the Space Aviation Agency, presented three key tasks in his New Year's address on the 31st: revitalizing the space aviation economy led by the private sector, securing future promising technologies, and fostering space aviation talent and culture.

In the New Year's address released on the 31st, Administrator Yoon emphasized 2025, the second year since the establishment of the Space Aviation Agency, as a crucial moment to prepare for the "Era of Space Aviation Hegemony."

He stated, "We will expand the leading participation of the private sector across all areas of the space aviation economy," and announced plans to activate a space aviation fund and create a startup ecosystem to support this. Additionally, he revealed intentions to plan the world's first L4 point heliospheric space observatory project, promote the localization of aircraft gas turbine engines, develop core technologies for reusable launch vehicles, and secure independent competitiveness in the field of international space science exploration.

He also presented plans to hold the "1st Space Aviation Day" on May 27 to spread a space aviation culture shared with the public.

Administrator Yoon mentioned the achievements in the first year since the agency's launch, evaluating that "we have laid the foundation for innovation through a flexible organization centered on experts, securing an R&D budget of about 1 trillion won, and establishing a space industry triangular cluster." In particular, the successful hosting of COSPAR 2024 and cooperation with NASA were cited as examples demonstrating South Korea's global leadership.

Finally, he urged the concentration of all capabilities to secure leadership in the space aviation field amid fierce international competition and pledged close communication with the public, companies, and researchers.