US military creates space unit in South Korea amid North Korea threats

SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. military formally launched a space force unit in South Korea on Wednesday, a move that will likely enable Washington to better monitor its rivals North Korea, China and Russia.

The activation of the U.S. Space Forces Korea at Osan Air Base near Seoul came after North Korea test-fired a barrage of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles designed to strike the U.S. mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan in recent months.

“Just 48 miles north of us exists an existential threat; a threat that we must be prepared to deter, defend against, and – if required – defeat,” Lt. Col. Joshua McCullion, chief of the new space unit, said during the activation ceremony at Osan. He apparently referred to North Korea, whose heavily fortified border with South Korea is just an hour’s drive from Seoul, the South’s capital.

The unit belongs to the U.S. Space Force, which was launched in December 2019 under then-President Donald Trump as the first new U.S. military service in more than 70 years.

The Space Force was seen soberly as an affirmation of the need to more effectively organize for the defense of U.S. interests in space — especially satellites used for civilian and military navigation, intelligence and communication. A previous Pentagon report said China and Russia had embarked on major efforts to develop technologies that could allow them to disrupt or destroy American and allied satellites in a crisis or conflict.

The U.S. Space Forces Korea is a subordinate of a bigger U.S. Space Force unit established within the Indo-Pacific command in Hawaii last month.

Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said the U.S. Space Force was created to bring together diverse surveillance assets including space-based satellites in one organization to manage and develop them in an effective, systemic manner. He said its unit in South Korea would work like a field unit while the other one in the Indo-Pacific Command would be its headquarters.

“The U.S. Space Forces Korea would maintain, operate and asses related equipment. Simply speaking, I would say the actual U.S. space operations will be done at Osan Air Base,” Jung said. He said the main role of the U.S. Space Forces Korea would be receiving, processing and analyzing tremendous amount of data and information transmitted by U.S. satellites.

“The U.S. military is faster, better connected, more informed, precise and lethal because of space,” Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea, said during the ceremony. “Specifically, the activation here today, of U.S. Space Forces Korea ... enhances our ability to defend the homelands and ensure peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.”

Jung said the launch of a space unit in South Korea was primarily aimed at better monitoring North Korea, followed by China and then Russia.

The United States and South Korea have expanded their regular military drills and pushed to further bolster their combined defense capability in the face of North Korea’s advancing nuclear program. North Korea has threatened to use nuclear weapons preemptively in potential conflicts with the United States and South Korea, and the U.S. military warned the North that the use of nuclear weapons “will result in the end of that regime.”

韩国首尔——美国军方周三在韩国正式成立了太空部队，此举可能使华盛顿能够更好地监视其竞争对手朝鲜、中国和俄罗斯。

在朝鲜近几个月试射了一系列可携带核弹头的弹道导弹，旨在打击美国本土及其盟友韩国和日本之后，美国在首尔附近的乌山空军基地启动了驻韩太空部队。

“在我们以北仅48英里处存在着一种生存威胁；我们必须做好准备，威慑、防御，并在必要时击败这种威胁，”新成立的太空部队指挥官约书亚·麦卡利恩中校在乌山空军基地的启用仪式上说道。他显然指的是朝鲜，朝鲜与韩国之间戒备森严的边界距离韩国首都首尔仅一小时车程。

该部队隶属于美国太空军，太空军于 2019 年 12 月在时任总统唐纳德·特朗普的领导下成立，是美国 70 多年来的第一个新军种。

太空部队的成立被冷静地视为对美国需要更有效地组织起来捍卫其在太空利益（特别是用于民用和军用导航、情报和通信的卫星）的有力肯定。此前五角大楼的一份报告指出，中国和俄罗斯已投入大量精力研发相关技术，以便在危机或冲突中干扰或摧毁美国及其盟国的卫星。

美国驻韩国太空部队是上个月在夏威夷印太司令部成立的规模更大的美国太空部队的下属单位。

首尔韩国国防研究论坛智库负责人郑昌旭表示，美国太空军的成立旨在将包括天基卫星在内的各种监视资产整合到一个机构中，以便以高效、系统的方式进行管理和发展。他指出，其在韩国的分支机构将像野战部队一样运作，而位于印太司令部的另一个分支机构将作为其总部。

“驻韩美军太空部队将负责维护、操作和评估相关设备。简单来说，美国的实际太空行动将在乌山空军基地进行，”郑先生说。他表示，驻韩美军太空部队的主要任务是接收、处理和分析美国卫星传输的大量数据和信息。

“由于太空技术的应用，美军行动更加迅速、联系更加紧密、信息更加灵通、行动更加精准、杀伤力也更强，”驻韩美军28500名官兵的指挥官保罗·拉卡梅拉将军在仪式上表示。“具体而言，今天在此启动的驻韩美军太空部队……增强了我们保卫本土、确保朝鲜半岛和东北亚地区和平与安全的能力。”

郑表示，韩国发射太空装置的主要目的是更好地监视朝鲜，其次是中国，然后是俄罗斯。

面对朝鲜不断推进的核计划，美国和韩国扩大了例行军事演习，并进一步加强了联合防御能力。朝鲜威胁称，在与美国和韩国可能发生的冲突中，将先发制人地使用核武器。美国军方警告朝鲜，使用核武器“将导致该政权的终结”。