Could you just imagine the whinging in the US if a mandatory service requirement was mandated and conscripts were making less than $200 a month?:
Salaries for conscripted soldiers will go up 15 percent on-year in 2016, with sergeants earning 197,100 won a month, according to the government.
All able-bodied South Korean men must carry out compulsory military service for about two years in a country that faces North Korea across a heavily fortified border. (Korea Herald)
Instead of complaining about how much money the ROK government spent in 2014 to upgrade its defense capabilities maybe the Hankyoreh should instead complain about how the North Koreans are the ones necessitating defense upgrades in the first place:
Last year, South Korea was the world’s largest importer of weapons, a US government report shows, which is an inevitable result of South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s emphasis on providing a military deterrent to North Korea. This prompts the criticism that, ultimately, the only winners of this policy are the world’s arms manufacturers.
On Dec. 26, the New York Times reported that South Korea had signed arms contracts worth US$7.8 billion in 2014 – more than any other country – citing a report by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS).Around US$7 billion of the weapons purchased by South Korea, which include unmanned surveillance aircraft and transport helicopters, are of American manufacture, the newspaper reported.After South Korea, Iraq purchased US$7.3 billion worth of weapons to strengthen its military after the withdrawal of US forces. Brazil was ranked 3rd on the list, purchasing US$6.5 billion of weaponry, including aircraft made in Sweden. [Hankyoreh]
As South Korea begins to establish a more robust space program that will include multiple defense satellites, being able to monitor and defend against threats to those assets as well as providing missile warning is important:
Republic of Korea air force Lt. Col. Kim Jae Don works on a combined joint task force air battle management plan March 10, 2015, in the Republic of Korea Air and Space Operation Center during at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea. On Wednesday, South Korean officials asked for American assistance in expanding its space-defense program. SHAWN NICKEL/U.S. AIR FORCE
South Korea wants help from the United States as it tries to develop its nascent space-defense program, Defense Ministry officials said Wednesday.
The nation’s space plans aren’t targeting a particular country or threat, ministry officials told Stars and Stripes. However, North Korea’s continuing research on long-range ballistic missiles represents a threat that theoretically could be defeated using space-based technology.
Seoul will be “building up the foundation to carry out space warfare by creating and conducting a high-level U.S.-South Korea defense space development [tabletop exercise] regularly,” according to a recent Defense Ministry statement.
The Defense Ministry and the Pentagon will also share information on space development, a ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
South Korea established its first Space Operations Center in July, when it also announced plans to build a national space surveillance system by 2030. Last week, defense officials said the new space center successfully tracked a falling Russian satellite, with assistance from the U.S. Strategic Command.
The pact with South Korea follows similar actions taken between the U.S. and Japan to bolster cooperation earlier this year. In April, Tokyo and Washington revised 1997 bilateral defense guidelines to include a section on space, calling for the nations to “share information to address emerging threats against space systems.” [Stars & Stripes]
I remember a few KATUSA soldiers over the years who lived the majority of their lives in the US, but still went and did their mandatory service to the ROK Army to keep their Korean citizenship. I always had a lot of respect for those who did this unlike some of the Korean males that try to get dual citizenship to get out of their mandatory service requirement:
Michael Cho and his mother.
In May 2011, Michael Cho’s phone rang while he waited for an elevator in his freshman dorm. His mother was calling to tell him his conscription letter had arrived — from the South Korean Department of Defense.
Cho, a Georgetown University student born in South Korea, was raised in Sydney, Australia. But South Korean Conscription Law requires males between 20 and 30 to serve for a minimum of 21 months to maintain citizenship.
So, in the fall, Cho went to South Korea, jumping right into the regimented, rigorous drills and daily life of a South Korean soldier.
After a grueling five-week boot camp, Cho’s commanders selected him to patrol the DMZ — a dangerous demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea. Every soldier routinely took shifts patrolling the border. [USA Today]
You can read the rest and see a video at the link.
Here is the latest on South Korea’s efforts to develop a new fighter jet:
The State Department said Tuesday, amid skepticism over the project’s prospects following the U.S.’ refusal to hand over core technologies.
The department has denied export licenses for the four technologies conditionally promised last year to be transferred by U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin, citing its national technology protection policy. The four are critical in crafting integrated systems for an active electronically scanned array radar, electro optical targeting pod, infrared search-and-track and radio frequency jammer.
Instead, the two countries’ defense ministers agreed last October to set up a working group to boost cooperation to facilitate the 18.1 trillion won ($15.55 billion) program, nicknamed KF-X or Boramae. South Korea hopes to unveil its first KF-16-class warplanes by 2025 and deploy 120 units by 2032.
“The U.S. continues to support the Republic of Korea’s defense programs and priorities through the transfer of many of our most sensitive defense technologies. We seek to support the KF-X indigenous fighter program to the maximum extent possible,” department spokesperson Katina Adams told Yonhap News.
“The U.S. government is in discussions with Lockheed Martin to address ROK areas of concern. We will continue to work closely with Lockheed Martin throughout this process to ensure continued support to the KF-X program.” [Korea Herald]
You can read the rest at the link, but I am sure Lockheed Martin would love to sell South Korea some Joint Strike Fighters instead.
This is going to be a really big defense upgrade for the ROK Army once these new Apache helicopters are fielded:
The latest-version AH-64 Apache attack helicopters destined for South Korea have been unveiled months before the start of deliveries, the country’s arms procurement agency said Tuesday.
Boeing held a rollout ceremony for the AH-64E Apache Guardian in Mesa, Arizona, on Monday (local time), attended by representatives from South Korea’s Army and the Defense Acquisition Procurement Administration (DAPA).
The choppers will be first delivered to the U.S. Army for test flights and transferred to South Korea beginning in the first half of next year, according to DAPA officials.
The DAPA signed a US$1.6 billion contract with the U.S. in a Foreign Military Sales program in 2013 to buy 36 AH-64Es, an upgraded model of the AH-64D Longbow. [Korea Times]
Despite their best efforts it looks like the ROK will not be receiving the technology transfer they requested any time soon:
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter refused Thursday to accept South Korea’s request for the transfer of key American technologies necessary for Seoul’s “KF-X” indigenous jet fighter development project, officials said.
Carter stated the position when South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo asked him to reconsider the decision to reject the technology transfer during a meeting at the Pentagon, the South’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. Han has been in Washington to accompany President Park Geun-hye on an official visit.
Carter said, however, that he would study ways of technological cooperation, the statement said. The two ministers also agreed to establish a consultative forum to discuss ways to increase cooperation in defense technology, including the KF-X project, it said.
The Korean Fighter Experimental (KF-X) project, under which South Korea is to produce 120 combat jets, hit a snag after the U.S. Department of State in April refused to grant permission for U.S.-based Lockheed Martin’s export of four out of the 25 fighter jet technologies it has promised Seoul. [Korea Times]
