Cho, Yung Kil
Minister of National Defense
Republic of Korea
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
It is my great honor to have this opportunity to speak to distinguished defense ministers and security experts of the Asia-Pacific region.
I would like to convey my deep appreciation to Dr. John Chipman, the Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), for providing us with this outstanding opportunity to exchange our views on current security concerns of this region.
This year's Asia Security Conference is the third meeting since its birth, and I have strong confidence that by fertilizing and planting the seeds of 'regional stability and prosperity' in the Asia-Pacific region, in which we lack multilateral security cooperation to date, the conference will contribute to a great extent to bringing forth bearing meaningful fruits.
What I will present to you today in relation to the Second Plenary Session is ‘The Republic of Korea’s Force Modernization: Its Goals and Future Directions’. I will first provide you with an overview encompassing security environment and situations under which we are placed, followed by goals for modernization and future directions.
Security Environment and Situations of the Republic of Korea
The security environment of the 21st century demands the Armed Forces of the Republic of Korea (ROK) to adapt to a new, rapidly evolving trend. The underlying reasons are because the ROK is facing not only existing North Korean military threats, but also various and new security challenges as a result of changes in domestic and international situations.
Most of all, under the armistice structure that has been maintained for over 50 years since the end of the Korean War, the ROK maintains a sharp military standoff with the North, which possesses 1.2 million active forces and 7.5 million-strong reserve forces.
To be specific, North Korea's large conventional forces, development of WMDs, and forward deployment of its forces indicate that North Korea continues to pose military threats towards the South. Moreover, North Korea's nuclear issues pose a serious threat to the peace and stability of Northeast Asia, let alone the Korean Peninsula.
Moreover, taking into account that the ROK-US alliance has been the principal pillar of our security and has contributed a great deal to maintaining the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula for the past half a century, we face a need to develop the current ROK-US alliance to better fit the new security environment.
The ROK government is making devoted efforts to build the future ROK-US alliance a stronger, more stable, and more sustainable alliance.
Another key task accounted for in modernizing the ROK Armed Forces is to enable them to effectively respond to new security threats, such as international terrorism, with proper military capability and structure.
With medical and engineer units dispatched in Afghanistan and Iraq-200 and 600 servicemembers respectively-the ROK Armed Forces are contributing to international efforts on the global war on terror by actively taking part in counter-terrorism efforts as members of the Coalition Force
We are also in preparation for an additional dispatch of 3,000 troops in order to assist the peaceful settlement of Iraq and provide humanitarian reconstruction aid to this country that has not yet stabilized.
Moreover, we are acquiring expertise and capabilities of global peace-keeping operations by actively engaging in various U.N. peace-keeping operations in such places as Somalia, Angola, Western Sahara, East Timor, etc.
Goals for Modernization of the ROK Armed Forces
Considering these security environment and situations, there are two goals in the modernization of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces.
The first goal is to firmly ensure the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula by enhancing deterrence against North Korean military threats.
For the first time since the division of the peninsula, the two Koreas held generalofficer-level military talks on May 26th and June 3rd of this year. Through these talks, they agreed to develop measures as to how mutual confidence can be built in order to prevent military clashes in the West Sea. They have also agreed to remove all the propaganda means along the front line, which will contribute to confidence building.
However, the Republic of Korea fully recognizes the fact that such inter-Korean military contacts will not bring about visible results in a short period of time and that easing of tension as well as mutual confidence building will take a significant amount of time and effort.
Moreover, taking into account that there are no fundamental changes taking place in regards to the North Korean military threat, I cannot emphasize more that overcoming the military imbalance between the two Koreas is a very critical task.
It is with regret, however, that the Republic of Korea has still not acquired enough deterrence capabilities against North Korea's military forces. Furthermore, we lack effective counter-measures against North Korea’s WMD.
Therefore, efforts to secure deterrence capabilities against North Korea in order to guarantee peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula cannot but be a main goal in modernizing the ROK Armed Forces.
The second goal is to contribute to regional stability and world peace by acquiring sufficient capabilities to deal with various security threats.
Situations surrounding the Korean Peninsula also pose as factors for potential conflicts.
Historical and geopolitical issues among states in the region lie beneath the various conflict factors, and therefore, it is necessary to actively engage in solving such instabilities and concerns.
In the midst of this situation, the ROK government provides a national vision of contributing to the peace and prosperity of Northeast Asia, let alone the Korean Peninsula. This underlines the ROK's commitment to contributing actively to the coexistence and co-prosperity of the nations in Northeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific.
The ROK Armed Forces, in line with such a national policy, will steadily prepare to meet their international roles and responsibilities so as to contribute to regional peace and stability.
And, in order to effectively respond to the various security threats and challenges in the region, we will continue to maintain the proper level of military force that can appropriately reflect to our capabilities.
Moreover, we will continue our efforts in acquiring capabilities against international terrorism and transnational threats. In particular, we will actively engage in international efforts through participation in UN PKO Stand-by Arrangement System and expansion of combined exercise opportunities with nations in the region.
Future Directions for Modernization of the ROK Armed Forces
I will now present to you the future directions in modernizing the ROK Armed Forces.
First, modernization of the ROK Armed Forces will be directed towards the strengthening of ROK-US combined military capabilities.
The Republic of Korea and the United States, based on the 50 years' achievements of the ROK-US alliance, will envisage a desirable form of alliance to effectively cope with the future security environment and closely cooperate to develop the plans to realize it.
Most of all, by agreeing to realign the US Forces Korea (USFK) base structure, both the ROK and US are working together to bring forth a long-term and stable stationing environment for USFK.
The USFK is pursuing its force modernization in order to upgrade its deterrence capability on the Korean Peninsula. In conjunction with this, the ROK Armed Forces have provided themselves with their own force improvement plans and are gradually enhancing military capabilities required for deterrence against North Korea.
Furthermore, gradual transfer of missions from the USFK to the ROK Armed Forces that are scheduled to take place in coming years will expand the role of the ROK Armed Forces in the defense of the nation.
Secondly, the ROK Armed Forcs modernization will strive for a technology-intensive force structure development.
As seen in the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, modern war paradigms and warfighting concepts are fundamentally changing.
Today, the outcome of a war is decided upon advanced military technology, and the ROK Armed Forces bases its modernization efforts on such war-fighting concepts and force capabilities.
With these in mind, the ROK Armed Forces will develop their current conventional force structure to a technology-intensive structure that is appropriate for future warfighting.
Taking into account the changing security environment, gradual improvement of force structure will enhance our current quantity-based structure to one that is quality-based.
Also, the ROK Armed Forces will transform into an advanced force structure that leverages science and technology to better perform their integrated combat capabilities.
In particular, the ROK Armed Forces are focusing on all possible capabilities to leap into a digitized and scientific force by actively utilizing the outstanding IT capabilities of the Republic.
Thirdly, to further increase the efficiency of military operational systems, the ROK Armed Forces will continue to implement the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) program.
Tightly bound with the developments in the ROK-US alliance, the ongoing RMA program of the ROK Armed Forces, is being pursued to enhance the efficiency in various areas such as force build-up, organization and operation of armed forces, acquisition and logistics support systems, and education and training systems.
In addition, the ROK Armed Forces are taking into account that the welfare of their servicemembers need to improve to better reflect the development of the Korean economy and rapid changes in Korean society. Therefore, the ROK Armed Forces are endeavoring to upgrade their intangible force by implementing measures to drastically improve the working conditions of military service.
Conclusion
I have so far briefly introduced to you the goals and future directions of modernization of the ROK Armed Forces.
To summarize, force modernization will allow the Republic of Korea to maintain its robust deterrence against North Korea. I firmly believe that this will not only guarantee the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula but also further contribute to the peace and prosperity of Northeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific as a whole.
Moreover, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the ROK also has a great interest in advancing multilateral security dialogue and cooperation such as military confidence-building measures with the neighboring countries, along with the abovementioned force modernization efforts.
Through various military exchanges and cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific including neighboring countries such as Japan, China and Russia, we are enhancing military transparency and will continue to expand that effort in the future.
This is because today's national security cannot be maintained by one's own capabilities alone and because national security can be maintained in a more stable manner through cooperative relations among countries.
Having said that, I would like to take this opportunity to request your active cooperation and support for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula, along with the peaceful settlement of the pending North Korean nuclear issue.
Once again, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. John Chipman and the IISS for providing me the opportunity to speak on this meaningful subject.
I deeply thank all the defense ministers and distinguished guests for your kind attention.
Thank you very much.
