The U.S. military on Wednesday formally launched a space force unit at Osan Air Base near Seoul, South Korea, a move that’s expected to allow the Pentagon to better monitor rival nations North Korea, China and Russia.
The activation of U.S. Space Forces Korea comes after North Korea has test-fired barrages of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles over the past year, and leader Kim Jong Un had threatened to launch “fiercer” military responses to the U.S. bolstering its security commitments to its allies South Korea and Japan.
“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 was apparently referring to North Korea, whose heavily fortified border with South Korea is roughly that far from Seoul.
The U.S. Space Forces Korea is a subordinate of a bigger U.S. Space Force unit that was established within the Indo-Pacific command in Hawaii last month.
