SEOUL– South Korea has drafted its first defense space strategy charting the future course of the military’s drive to develop operational capabilities for the crucial security domain, the defense ministry said Friday.

Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and other key members of the Defense Space Development Committee met to discuss the draft, as Seoul seeks to build its space capabilities amid growing competition among advanced countries for primacy in the domain.

The strategy, if finalized, would serve as an overarching document outlining strategic goals, basic principles and guidelines of the country’s push to develop space capabilities. Based on it, all armed services are to craft their own operational concepts with a focus on interservice cooperation, according to the ministry.

The ministry did not disclose details of the strategy yet.

At the meeting, Lee called for a “leap forward” in the development of space capabilities, pointing to intensifying global competition for capability preeminence in the space realm.

“Our military should make multifaceted efforts to continuously build space forces incorporating cutting-edge science and technologies,” Lee was quoted as saying.

Lee also stressed that the space domain is no longer a “faraway” world that appears “in your imagination or movies.”

“It has become ‘life space’ and ‘operational space,'” he said. “Major military powers have already recognized defense space capabilities as a core element of national security and have been competitively developing them.”

The ministry launched the committee, initially led by its vice minister, in 2018. In May, it reorganized the makeup of the committee, putting the defense minister at its helm and appointing top military commanders as its members.

Source: Yonhap News Agency