Yoon vows Korean flag on Mars by 2045 as new space agency begins work

Politics

Published: 30 May. 2024, 17:54

Yoon vows Korean flag on Mars by 2045 as new space agency begins work

President Yoon Suk Yeol, fourth from left, claps as the stone marker inscribed with the name of the Korea AeroSpace Administration in Korean is unveiled in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang, during the agency's opening ceremony on Thursday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol said the new Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) aims to plant a Korean flag on Mars by 2045 as part of the country's efforts to become a leader in space exploration during a ceremony to celebrate the agency's establishment.

Speaking at KASA’s temporary headquarters in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang, three days after it commenced operations, Yoon said that KASA will “usher in a new space era” by training Korean experts in space technology, which he called the “quintessence of cutting-edge science” and “the most powerful future growth engine.”

The president also said the space agency will work to land a domestically developed probe on the moon by 2032 in addition to its Space Gwanggaeto Project to plant the Taegeukgi, or the Korean national flag, on Mars by 2045.

The project derives its name from King Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo (37 B.C. to A.D. 668), an ancient Korean kingdom that reached its territorial zenith under his reign.

The president, who also chairs the National Space Committee, also promised to support research and innovation at KASA by expanding the agency’s budget to 1.5 trillion won ($1.09 billion) by 2027 and attracting investments worth a total of approximately 100 trillion by 2045 to nurture a domestic space industry centered around Sacheon.

The town is already home to Korea Aerospace Industries, which manufactures fighter jets and multipurpose satellites, while the Naro Space Center is located in the neighboring town of Goheung.

KASA’s establishment has been a major item on the Yoon administration’s agenda since the president first announced plans to create a national space agency in August 2022.

The agency was envisioned as a centralized authority to integrate disparate elements of the country’s current space programs, which are scattered across various divisions and agencies.

According to the Science Ministry, KASA will be headed by a vice-minister-level commissioner and have seven departments for launch vehicles, space science and exploration, satellites, advanced aerospace, aerospace policies, aerospace business and international cooperation.

The agency will be overseen jointly by the ministry and the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology.

With its founding, KASA also absorbed two existing space-related institutes: the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), which oversaw the ongoing Nuri space rocket program, and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).

Although a bill to establish KASA was first submitted to the National Assembly in April last year, it was passed by the legislature only in January.

The bill’s passage was held up by wrangling between the Yoon administration and conservative People Power Party, which supported the creation of a new space agency under the Science Ministry excluding KARI and KASI, and the liberal Democratic Party (DP), which argued KASA should be independent of the ministry but include the two other institutes.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]