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US To Open Space Force Command in South Korea

The envisioned component command in South Korea is expected to be the second US space command headquarters to be launched outside the US mainland after the first one established under the Indo-Pacific Command based in Hawaii earlier this month, reports Asian Lite News

The US Forces Korea (USFK) will host a component command of the US Space Force (USSF), likely the second regional space command to be established by the US outside of its mainland, amid growing missile threats from North Korea, sources here said Saturday.

The US Department of Defence plans to open a component command of the Space Force under the wing of the USFK, and the USSF is scheduled to integrate the body into its organisational structure by the end of this year, according to multiple high-level government sources, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The envisioned component command in South Korea is expected to be the second US space command headquarters to be launched outside the US mainland after the first one established under the Indo-Pacific Command based in Hawaii earlier this month.

The launch is expected to enable the USFK to detect and trace aerial vehicles flying into the exosphere at a time when North Korea is believed to possess the capacity to launch nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles into the US mainland.

X-37B orbital test vehicle concludes sixth successful mission. (Photo United States Space Force)

The sources predicted that the new USFK body will be smaller than the space component command in Hawaii, which has about 20 personnel.

Once installed, the new component command will link up with the US Space Force and the US Space Forces Indo-Pacific through the military networking system, known as C4i, to share real-time information concerning North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities.

The US is also said to be on course to establish an additional space component command under the Central Command in charge of the Middle East by the end of 2022.

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Kim oversees ICBM test, vows nuclear response to threats

The missile, launched on Friday from Pyongyang International Airport, flew 999.2 km for 4,135 seconds at an apogee of 6,040.9 km and landed in the international waters of the East Sea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared a resolute nuclear response to threats by the US during an on-site inspection of the country’s test-firing of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier this week, Pyongyang’s state media said on Saturday.

The missile, launched on Friday from Pyongyang International Airport, flew 999.2 km for 4,135 seconds at an apogee of 6,040.9 km and landed in the international waters of the East Sea, Yonhap News Agency quoted the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying.

“The test-fire clearly proved the reliability of the new major strategic weapon system to be representative of the DPRK’s strategic forces and its powerful combat performance as the strongest strategic weapon in the world,” the KCNA said in its report.

The DPRK is the acronym for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

It stressed that the firing was carried out under the “intolerable condition” that the “reckless military confrontational moves of the US and other hostile forces” driving regional security to the “red line” have gone beyond the limit.

It was referring to large-scale combined military drills recently staged by South Korea with some of key US strategic assets mobilised.

On November 3, the North had test-fired the same ICBM, but the launch was seen as a failure.

The launch came a day after North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui warned her country will take “fiercer” military actions if the US strengthens its security commitment to using a full range of military capabilities, including nuclear options, to defend the allies.

Shortly after Choe’s statement, the North launched a short-range ballistic missile into the East Sea.

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