Minister Lee Jong-Ho of Science and ICT visited Washington D.C. on August 1 to meet with key government officials in order to discuss the measures to strengthen the Korea-U.S. alliance in the field of cutting edge technologies.
Minister Lee met with the Director Alondra Nelson of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to reaffirm the tech alliance concurred at the Korea-U.S. Summit Meeting on May. Both parties agreed to strengthen the tech partnership based on the mutual understanding on the importance of critical and emerging technologies in economy and security. Specifically, both agreed to declare joint statement on quantum cooperation at the end of this year to enforce the strong cooperation of both countries in quantum field. Minister Lee also suggested the establishment of talent exchange channel in STEM field. Both parties decided to hold ‘the 11th Korea-U.S. Joint Committee on Science and Technology’ this year, and anticipated the signing of ‘Korea-U.S. Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement’ to systematically support the alliance.
Minister Lee discussed cooperation in space technology as well with the Executive Secretary Chirag Parikh of White House National Space Council (NSpC) and Administrator Bill Nelson of NASA. MSIT and NASA both agreed that cross-border cooperation in space technology is crucial, and expected the wider cooperation from Artemis projects to Moon-to-Mars Exploration. Then both parties discussed on the involvement of private sectors in the space technology. In the talk with NSpC, MSIT requested flexibility in ITAR application, and NSpC agreed to further discuss later on. Both parties acknowledged the importance of Korean Positioning System (KPS), and reaffirmed the cooperation in the development.
Minister Lee will then travel to Orlando, Florida to direct the launch of Korea’s first lunar orbiter, Danuri, in an effort to encourage the researchers.
For further information, please contact the Public Relations Division (Phone: +82-44-202-4034, E-mail: msitpress@korea.kr) of the Ministry of Science and ICT.
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