First Visit to Korea by U.S. Space Operations Commander David Miller
Korea-U.S. Space Operations Commanders Hold First Bilateral Dialogue
Agreement Reached on Seamless Combined Space Operations
Focus on Strengthening Response to North Korea's Space Threats
Kim Hyung-soo, Commander of the Air Force Operations Command (right), and David Miller, Commander of the United States Space Operations Command, are meeting on the 13th at Osan Base in Gyeonggi to discuss cooperation plans in the Korea-US space operations sector.
The Air Force Operations Commander and the U.S. Space Operations Commander held their first bilateral dialogue and agreed to carry out seamless combined Korea-U.S. space operations.
Lieutenant General Kim Hyung-soo, Air Force Operations Commander, and Lieutenant General David N. Miller, U.S. Space Operations Commander (U.S. Space Force), met on the 13th at Osan Air Base in Gyeonggi Province to discuss cooperation plans in the Korea-U.S. space operations sector. This is the first visit of a U.S. Space Operations Commander to Korea.
Commander Miller was commissioned as an Air Force second lieutenant in 1993, transferred to the Space Force in 2021, and was promoted to major general. Since then, he has held key positions in the Space Force, including Chief of Cyber and Nuclear Operations Staff, Special Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Space Operations, and assumed command of the Space Operations Command in January last year.
During his visit, Commander Miller plans to visit the U.S. Space Force Command in Korea and the Korean Air Force Space Operations Squadron to tour the joint Korea-U.S. space operations mission sites on the Korean Peninsula.
Commander Kim and Commander Miller shared the recognition that North Korea’s space threat situation is rapidly increasing, including Russia-North Korea military cooperation and North Korea’s military reconnaissance satellite launches, and discussed development and cooperation plans in the space operations sector based on the strong Korea-U.S. alliance.
In particular, they plan to strengthen combined space operations capabilities through establishing a system for sharing detection and analysis information on North Korean ballistic missiles using combined space forces, expanding activities in the civilian space sector, and increasing combined space training and exercises.
Commander Kim stated, “Our Air Force is applying integrated information from all domains, including air and space, linked to actual operations to respond promptly to provocations using asymmetric means such as ballistic missile launches and GPS jamming.” He added, “I hope the U.S. Space Force will generously provide advice based on its abundant operational know-how for the development of the Space Operations Squadron and, furthermore, for seamless combined Korea-U.S. space operations on the Korean Peninsula.”
Meanwhile, since operating the first Korea-U.S. space integration team with the U.S. Air Force in 2017, the Air Force has been conducting various combined exercises to perform combined space operations in wartime and peacetime by operating the Korea-U.S. space integration team with the U.S. Space Force, which was established in 2019.
The Korean Air Force Space Operations Squadron and the U.S. Space Force Command in Korea conducted the first phase of the 'Polaris Hammer-KOREA' exercise from January 21 to 24 at Osan Air Base, identifying and responding to enemy threats from space. This exercise is the first combined space operations command and control exercise conducted in a country other than the U.S., and the second phase of the main exercise will be conducted during the FS combined exercise period in March, followed by an evaluation of the results.
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