SEOUL, Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo on Tuesday met with the head of the U.S. Space Force to discuss ways to bolster their joint capabilities in space to fend off evolving North Korean threats. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, the chief of space operations at the U.S. Space Force, was on a three-day visit to South Korea amid speculation that North Korea could be readying for the launch of its second spy satellite, following the first one in November. The two sides discussed ways to closely coordinate space policy and operations to counter rising threats posed by North Korea's space-based surveillance and deepening military ties with Russia, the JCS said. They also agreed to develop combined space operations, establish a military space consultative body and push for a tabletop exercise on space domains to strengthen their combined space capabilities, it said. Saltzman's visit comes two weeks after Gen. Stephen Whiting, the commander of the U.S. Space Command, visited South Korea to coord inate their space strategy. Established in December 2019, the U.S. Space Force is the newest of the branch whose mission is to organize, train and provide forces and capabilities to the U.S. Space Command and the other unified combatant commands around the world. Seoul and Washington have been exploring avenues to expand their coordination in the realm of space, which was demonstrated by the launch of the U.S. Space Forces Korea, a component unit under the U.S. Forces Korea, in December 2022. Source: Yonhap News Agency