Two major space events took place in South-Korea in November 2023: Space Forum Korea, hosted by the South-Korean government, in close cooperation with the US and major ASEAN economies. And an International Workshop on Space Resources with Perspectives of Emerging Space Programs, hosted by the Secure World Foundation, an American NGO. Then, on the first day of December 2023, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the country’s first spy satellite into orbit, from California’s Vandenberg Space Force base, just one month after North Korea had launched its own. Let’s review these events in context, and draw some observations on the global standing of South-Korea as an Emerging Space Country.
