On 27 August 2025, ESPI Research Fellow and Relations Officer for Germany and Austria, seconded by DLR, Lina Pohl, provided a presentation about relations and cooperation between the Republic of Korea and Europe in the space sector at the Europe-Korea Science & Technology Conference 2025 in Vienna.
Lina spoke as part of the session: “Expanding Space Frontiers: Rockets, Satellites and the Future of Space Exploration” chaired by Professor Hyuk Park, Universtiat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC-BarcelonaTech).
Key messages from her presentation included:
- Korea and Europe have a rich heritage in space cooperation, in particular in space safety, space science and space applications and technologies.
- ESPI, having signed an MoU with KARI in 2023, has been cooperating with Korea in a joint project on STM, and fostered exchanges on space security and defence. Moreover, ESPI currently hosts a Visiting Researcher from KARI, Dr. Seorim Lee.
- In the current geopolitical context (including the evolution of transatlantic relations), space cooperation between Europe and other like-minded space middle powers, such as Korea, will be enhanced. A diversification of partnerships and balanced cooperation at eye-level (without asymmetric dependencies) is key for Europe.
- Recent developments highlight this trend of enhanced cooperation between Korea and Europe in space, including in space R&D, space exploration and space security:
-
- EU:
-
-
- Korea’s official inclusion in the EU Horizon Europe programme.
-
-
-
- As part of the broader EU-RoK Security and Defence Partnership Agreement (2024), enhanced cooperation in space security and further editions of the Space Security Dialogue (first edition in May 2025).
-
-
- ESA:
-
-
- Inspired by Canada’s cooperation with ESA, Korea requested for a non-member status in ESA which will enable Korea to participate in space exploration programmes led by Europe.
-
-
-
- In parallel, a MoU is in the process, including areas of cooperation such as deep-space communication, infrastructure development & joint utilisation, EO and environmental monitoring, space science and data analysis.
-
- In this basis, Europe and Korea will further intensify their partnership for mutual benefit and will open new areas of cooperation in space
- ESPI, promoting European space policy globally and providing a forum for exchange, analysis and to foster cooperation, will further support intensifying partnership and cooperation between Europe and Korea.
Europe as a space power and as strong partner to the world, alongside diversified cooperation with like-minded partners will be discussed at the 19th ESPI Autumn Conference, convening this year on 28-29 October at Vienna’s City Hall under the theme: “Europe as a Space Power – Directionality & Priorities of Strategic Action“.
