In this photo released by the US military, Colonel Jennifer Phelps, 8th Mission Support Group commander, delivers the oath of enlistment to Airman 1st Class Anton Soloshenko, Airman 1st Class Emmanuel Londono and Airman Nickolai Patchin in the 8th Fighter Wing conference room at Kunsan Air Base in the western city of Gunsan on Monday. (US military)
Eight members of the US Space Force are currently serving at an American air base in South Korea, US military officers have said.
CM Sgt. Philip Hudson, 7th Air Force command chief, made the revelation during a webinar held on Tuesday, saying "now we have eight guardians on the peninsula."
Earlier, the US military said an enlistment ceremony was held at the Kunsan Air Base in the western city of Gunsan on Monday to mark the transition of three airmen from the 8th Communications Squadron into the ranks of the US Space Force.
The guardians "have the responsibility of acquiring military space systems, maturing the military doctrine for space power and organizing space forces to present to combatant commands," according to the US military.
"Now that we have our guardians with their US Space Force uniforms on ... and actually doing the kind of job that they were asked to do, our ROK Air Force folks are watching that," Lt. Gen. Scott Pleus, US Forces Korea's deputy commander, said.
ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.
"And they are eager and they're really thirsty to try and find out exactly how we're doing it, what they're going to do and how they can get involved because they understand, you know, the meaning of what space and the space domain brings to us," he said.
In November, South Korea's Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lee Seong-yong and US chief of space operations Gen. John Raymond held their first bilateral talks and agreed to boost cooperation to better respond to emerging space threats. (Yonhap)
