KASA attends U.N. conference on sustainable lunar activities

South Korea's national space agency said Wednesday it has attended a United Nations (U.N.) Conference on Sustainable Lunar Activities, marking its first international activity since its opening last month. John Lee, deputy administrator in charge of space missions and policies at the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), attended the conference in Vienna, Austria, hosted by the U.N. Office of Outer Space Affairs on Tuesday (local time) to discuss international lunar collaboration and governance, according to the agency. South Korea was among 13 countries invited to the conference along with the United States, Russia, Germany and China. At the conference, Lee emphasized the importance of information sharing between nations to successfully conduct lunar exploration missions and disclosure of scientific data acquired from the missions to benefit the human race, KASA said. Lee also hosted a reception celebrating the establishment of KASA on the sidelines of the U.N. conference as part of efforts to expand th e country's network for space cooperation. "With the establishment of the space agency, South Korea will actively participate in activities to set international standards for sustainable lunar activities," Lee said. South Korea has been actively involved in lunar exploration, launching a Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter in 2022 and planning to land a space vehicle on the moon in 2032. Last month, the country opened KASA, its inaugural space agency, in Sacheon, about 300 kilometers south of Seoul, to foster the growth of its space industry. Source: Yonhap News Agency