February 21, 2023
Last month, President Yoon Suk Yul of South Korea publicly speculated that if tensions increased with Seoul’s nuclear-armed North Korean neighbor, South Korea might have to acquire its own nuclear weapons. The United States immediately tried to reassure Seoul that it would use American nuclear weapons to keep South Korea secure. Given South Koreans’ mistrust of Washington’s will to respond to North Korean aggression with nuclear use, however, it is unclear how well any American nuclear promise would work to keep Seoul from trying to get nuclear weapons, as it did in the 1970s.
One possible option that deserves further consideration is increasing American collaboration with South Korea on defense-related space activities. South Korean officials have already voiced their desire to increase cooperation in this field. How might Washington and Seoul strengthen their space-related ties? What projects would make the most sense? How might increased space collaboration with Seoul be coordinated with similar activities between Washington and other key allies, such as Japan and Australia?
NPEC and the Hudson Institute get the answers at their Pax-Pacifica/AUKUS workshop held on February 21, at 5:00pm EST, featuring brief comments by Sam Wilson of the Aerospace Corporation and Lt. Gen. In-Bum Chun (Ret.) of the South Korean Army.