BUSAN -- Yoon Young-bin, the head of Korea AeroSpace Administration, or KASA, on Monday reiterated the importance of collaboration and cooperation in space to make progress across borders for the prosperity of humanity at the 45th Committee on Space Research, or COSPAR, at Bexco in Busan.

“In order to become an influential member of the international space community, we will actively pursue cooperative activities in the field of space exploration and space science where global collaboration has become essential now,” said Yoon.

“It it significant that key (space) figures from each country have come to the world's largest space science forum prepared by Korea to share their goals and visions and discuss cooperation," he said.

The theme of this year’s COSPAR, which brought together about 3,000 space scientists and relevant industry officials from over 60 countries, highlighted the gravity of team spirit in space.

With the participation of high-level representatives from world-class space agencies, including Pam Melroy, deputy administrator at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Li Guoping, chief engineer at the China National Space Administration, and Hitoshi Kuninaka, director general of the Institute for Space and Astronautical Science at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Yoon promoted the meaning and blueprint of Korea’s first independent space body KASA as he explained the country’s will to push for international cooperation.

COSPAR was established by the International Council for Scientific Unions in 1958. Since then, the promotion of scientific research in research has been the main focus of the global forum. The event took place each year from 1958 to 1980 to gather thousands of space researchers around the world before turning into a biannual forum starting in 1982.