Calls are growing for an expanded defence relationship between Australia and South Korea after Russia signed a mutual defence pact with North Korea in June.
Speaking at the ROK-AUS Defence Conference in Canberra - which was attended by South Korea’s Vice Minister of Defence Kim Seonho – prominent Korean and Australian representatives called for enhanced defence cooperation to offset the new alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang.
The conference was the first that the ROK Ministry of Defence (MND) has hosted outside Korea.
Former Australian Ambassador to South Korea Bill Paterson noted that Australia was already the second-most active member of UN Command in Korea (after the US), and Canberra should quickly negotiate a reciprocal access agreement with Seoul.
Paterson said that while forums such as the Australia-Korea 2+2 Dialogue are worthwhile, they ‘do not really lead to operational activity’. Paterson also called for the RAN and ROK Navy to undertake a joint naval patrol of the South China Sea and send a strong deterrence signal to China, Russia and North Korea.
Suon Choi, Associate Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said both countries should advocate for their joint inclusion in the G7 group of nations, and that Australia should consider South Korean participation in AUKUS Pillar Two.
Peter Dean - Director, Foreign Policy and Defence at the US Studies Centre and a contributor to the government’s Defence Strategic Review - said Australia cannot rely only on the US to provide strategic deterrence; and Brendan Taylor, Head of ANU’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, told delegates that the Korean peninsula was the region’s second-most combustible flashpoint after Taiwan.
South Korea has evidently been rattled by the mutual defence pact between Russia and North Korea and is looking to accelerate its effort to build the bilateral relationship with Canberra - the Indo-Pacific’s other middle power and a historical ally during the Korean War.
The bilateral relationship hinges on growing defence industry ties following Hanwha Defence Australia’s contracts to build K9 self-propelled howitzers, AS10 ammunition resupply vehicles and Redback infantry fighting vehicles for the ADF. Both Hanwha Ocean and Hyundai Heavy Industries have been shortlisted for the RAN’s general-purpose frigate program (Sea 3000).
Consequently a number of Australian companies are now finding success in South Korean supply chains, including Corvus Technology – which has recently opened a new office in South Korea - and Tasmania’s CBG, which will manufacture and supply the mobile camouflage systems for all 129 vehicles to be acquired through project Land 400 Phase 3.
In fact, Hanwha has this week been chosen to build K9 howitzers for Romania. The company is also offering the Australian Redback IFV to Romania, modelling its production line in Geelong (which is producing both vehicles for the ADF).
ADM Comment: On the back of growing defence industrial ties between Australia and South Korea, ADM is launching the inaugural Australia-Korea Defence Industry Congress in Seoul on September 30 (in partnership with the Korean Ministry of Defence, the Korean Defence Diplomacy Association and Aviation Week Network).
Delegates will also gain access to KADEX, South Korea’s largest defence exhibition, which runs from October 2-5 – an invaluable opportunity to explore commercial opportunities with some of Asia’s largest defence primes.
More details are available here: https://admevents.com.au/adm-australia-korea-defence-congress/