President Lee Jae-myung said on the 20th that South Korea should step up investment in its aerospace industry, particularly in space launch vehicles and satellites tied to national security.
Lee made the remarks at the 45th Cabinet meeting held at the Blue House after a briefing by Oh Tae-seok, head of the Korea AeroSpace Administration, on the results of the fifth launch of the Nuri rocket and future plans. "Broadly speaking, we are in a situation where we must keep increasing the defense budget," Lee said. "Launch vehicles and satellites are very closely related to national defense."
"As we are seeing in Ukraine, there has been friction between the United States and Ukraine over whether to provide surveillance intelligence and communications capabilities," he said. "In the end, there is a strong chance that satellites will become a core military asset going forward." He added that communications are likely shifting toward satellite networks. "The importance of satellite communications is growing overall and demand will rise enormously, so isn't our launch vehicle development program moving too slowly?"
Lee noted that launches are planned only once a year and that no launches at all are scheduled between 2028 and 2030. "If the budget is there, can additional launches or technology development be carried out at a much faster pace?" he asked. "This is also closely linked to missile technology. Please gather the views of each ministry across the board, along with industry views, and review this with a view to expanding investment significantly."
"We need to invest intensively in each area of future advanced industries and find fields where we can move beyond catching up to compete on equal terms or take the lead. The aerospace sector lags behind, but the pace at which it is catching up is beyond imagination," he said. "Conducting research and development on a large scale will also have an impact." He added that he hoped the Korea AeroSpace Administration would plan well.