Yoon opens state visit with spotlight on space, mega deals

By AAMER MADHANI and ZEKE MILLER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off the state visit of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol with a tour of a NASA facility as the Biden administration looks to deepen ties with a close ally that it sees as only growing in importance in an increasingly complicated Indo-Pacific. Before Harris and Yoon’s visit to the Goddard Space Flight Center, the two countries signed a joint statement on cooperation in space communications and navigation and received briefings from NASA scientists on cooperative efforts on space exploration and addressing the climate crisis. Later Tuesday, Yoon and his wife visited the Korean War Memorial with President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.