President Yoon Suk Yeol meets with Sir Keir Starmer the new British prime minister, during the Korea-UK summit at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., July 11, 2024. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-suk

Korea joined the science and technology body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a partner country in a move to strengthen cooperation with the Western military alliance, the defense ministry said Saturday.

As part of the partnership with the NATO Science and Technology Organization, Korea is expected to engage in joint research and development with other members and plan projects under the alliance's science and technology committee, according to the ministry.

The science and technology group serves as a platform for cooperation in advanced defense technologies among its members. With its entry, Korea becomes the organization's third partner country after Japan and Australia.

"Korea's entry into the partnership lays the groundwork for multilateral defense science and technology cooperation with Europe for the first time and marks a milestone in development in Korea-NATO cooperation," it said in a release.

Korea is not a member of NATO but is one of the alliance's four partners in the Indo-Pacific region, alongside Australia, Japan and New Zealand. (Yonhap)