U.S. Air Force under secretary nominee notes N. Korea as perceived space risks to U.S.

The nominee for the U.S. Air Force under secretary has singled out North Korea and Iran as countries perceived as posing space-based risks to the United States, her written statement for the Senate confirmation hearing showed Wednesday. Melissa Dalton mentioned the two countries in response to a question of whether there are other nation-states -- aside from China and Russia -- or other actors operating in space that she perceives as a risk to the U.S. or as a cause of concern. "Both Iran and North Korea have active domestic space programs and have each conducted successful space launches within the past year," she wrote. "Moreover, both have demonstrated the capability and willingness to jam foreign satellite communications to suppress information access for their own populations and for their regional rivals." Dalton also said that further developments in the North Korean and Iranian space programs, "combined with larger patterns of bad behavior," could pose additional threats to U.S. space assets, eith er "intentionally or inadvertently." Asked if the 2022 U.S. National Defense Strategy (NDS) accurately assesses the current strategic environment, including prioritization among the most critical security challenges, she said that it accurately captures the "growing" challenges from China and the "acute" threat from Russia. Dalton then pointed out "persistent" threats from North Korea and Iran. "The deterrence priorities outlined within establish a purposeful way forward to proactively address these global competitors, while we remain vigilant and deliberate in our responses in the face of other persistent threats, including those posed by North Korea, Iran, and Violent Extremist Organizations," she wrote. In addition, she stressed that Pyongyang and Tehran continue to seek weapons of mass destruction and long-range delivery systems through development or purchase, while noting what she described as "China's attempts to erode the rules-based order across the Indo-Pacific region through coercive operationa l behavior." "The increasingly coercive actions taken by those who challenge the free and open international order can only be checked through synchronized activities and investments to aggregate resources and shift conditions in our favor," she wrote. North Korea's quest for space-based security capabilities has gained attention as it claimed to have successfully launched its first military spy satellite in November and unveiled its intention to launch three additional satellites this year. Source: Yonhap News Agency