S. Korea may drop Defense Reform 2020 plan

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with President Lee's comments on Defense Reform 2020 plan)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, May 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Thursday his
country needs to reconsider a long-term defense reform project crafted by the
former Roh Moo-hyun administration, as it does not fully reflect the security
conditions on the peninsula.
Lee also instructed a new presidential security panel to "fundamentally reassess
external threats" and map out measures for the overall reform of the military.
He ordered the panel's creation earlier this month after the March 26 sinking of
a naval ship near North Korea, which killed 46 sailors, raised questions about
the military's crisis-handling capabilities and defense posture.
"There should be changes to military operation and weapons systems," Lee said at
the first meeting of the Commission for National Security Review, according to
his spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye.
"I think we need to resolve everything from the Defense Reform 2020 so that it
can be suitable to reality," he said in reference to a 2005 plan aimed at
strengthening South Korea's advanced military capability at the cost of 620
trillion won (US$560 billion) while reducing the number of troops to 500,000 from
the current 680,000 by 2020.
Last year, the conservative Lee administration revised the plan by the liberal
predecessor, slashing the cost to 600 trillion won and the troop level to 540,000
by that year.
The ship sinking, however, prompted South Korean officials to rethink the plan.
"The Defense Reform 2020 was not based on accurate and adequate external
threats," a senior official at the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said on
condition of anonymity. "President Lee meant that both the term and contents of
the Defense Reform 2020 should be reconsidered."
The president reiterated concerns over the lack of public awareness on perennial
security threats from North Korea.
"Although North Korea is aiming at South Korea from just 50 kilometers away, we
don't feel big threats," he was quoted as saying. "Despite this grim reality, the
military's security awareness is also slack."
lcd@yna.co.kr
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