South Korea and the United States have signed an agreement to share information on satellites and other orbital objects around Earth so as to prevent accidental collisions, the Pentagon said Friday.
Under the memorandum of understanding on sharing "space situational awareness" (SSA) data, South Korea's Air Force will receive higher quality and more timely space information tailored for its specific purposes in exchange for satellite-positional and radio-frequency information it will provide to the U.S. Strategic Command, the Pentagon said.
The agreement was signed in Washington on Tuesday by Douglas Loverro, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, and Maj. Gen. Chang Kyeong-seok, director general of policy planning at the South's defense ministry.
South Korea is the sixth nation to have SSA data-sharing agreements with the U.S.
"Cooperating with international partners to develop coalition approaches to space is a priority for the Department of Defense," Loverro said.
Chang was quoted as saying the agreement is expected to strengthen the alliance between the two countries.