Yoon vows strong support for new space industry cluster

President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged Wednesday to expand the budget for space development to over 1.5 trillion won (US$1.14 billion) by 2027 as he attended the launch of a new space industry cluster in the southern part of the country.

The cluster — a triangle formed by Daejeon in the north, South Gyeongsang Province in the east and South Jeolla Province in the west — was launched during a ceremony at the headquarters of Korea Aerospace Industries in Sacheon, 296 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

Sacheon, which is in South Gyeongsang Province, will be home to the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), South Korea’s equivalent of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), when it launches in May.

“In the not-too-distant future, strong space powers that lead the space economy will take the lead in the world,” Yoon said in congratulatory remarks. “A new market is opening that uses space in various ways, involving not only satellite manufacturing, space communications and launch vehicles but also space resources, space tourism and space sunlight.”

Yoon noted that his administration has devised a space economy road map outlining goals to complete a moon landing by 2032 and a Mars mission by 2045. The aim is to make the country a top five space technology power in the world.

“The government and I will strongly support the success of the space industry cluster,” Yoon said, adding the government will construct key infrastructure that the private sector cannot build alone, such as a civilian rocket launch facility and a space environment simulation laboratory.

By region, Yoon said the government will push to speed up the construction of a national industrial complex for space launch vehicles in South Jeolla Province, complete the construction of a national aerospace industrial complex in South Gyeongsang Province by the end of the year and set up a space technology human resource development center in Daejeon by the end of 2028.