Seoul, South Korea – South Korea has signed up to a US-led international agreement setting out rules for space exploration, NASA announced on Wednesday.

The US space agency said South Korea is the tenth country to sign the Artemis Accords launched in 2020 and named after NASA's program to land astronauts on the moon by 2024.

South Korea's science ministry also announced the move, and said Seoul had been working with NASA to develop a lunar orbiter set to blast off in August 2022, news agency Yonhap reported.

The list also includes Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Britain, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, and the United States.

Through Artemis, NASA aims to establish sustainable surface exploration of the moon with its international partners by 2028, as a stepping stone to the first human mission to Mars.

The principles laid out in the accords ensure a shared understanding of safe operations, use of space resources, minimizing debris, and sharing scientific data.

"Partnering in deep space will ensure our missions are carried out in accordance with important, universal principles like transparency, safety, and peaceful exploration, which are critical to ensuring a safe, and prosperous future in space for all," NASA administrator Bill Nelson said.