(Yonhap Feature) S. Korea expands modern forces as it seeks greater security role

By Sam Kim
SEOUL/BUSAN/CHEONGJU, South Korea, April 24 (Yonhap) -- After the three-year
Korean War that ended in 1953 with a truce, South Korea was left with nearly
non-existent naval and air forces and a bruised army that depended heavily on
U.S. support.
But buoyed by rapid economic growth over the following decades, the country now
operates a modern 655,000-strong force backed by 120 warships, 490 fighter jets
and 2,300 tanks. As the world's 13th-largest economy, it will spend over US$20
billion on defense this year alone.
"We can't help feeling emotionally overwhelmed when we think of how far we've
come," Vice Admiral Park Chung-hwa recently said while aboard the 4,500-ton Wang
Geon destroyer in Busan.
The destroyer, docked at the Naval Force Operations Command (NFOC) in the
southeastern city, is one of South Korea's latest warships, built with guided
missiles and radars that can knock out entire communication systems in
surrounding regions.
Showing a giant screen inside the NFOC that tracks all vessels operating near the
Yellow Sea border -- the scene of bloody battles between the Koreas in 1999 and
2002 -- Park said his navy is aiming higher than what most would like to think.
"Our immediate goal is to deter North Korean aggression, but we need to expand
our naval forces if we are to contribute more to global and regional security,"
he said.
South Korea recently sent a destroyer to Somali waters, where it joined a
U.S.-led anti-piracy campaign. The crew of 300 is part of hundreds of South
Korean forces serving worldwide as part of either multinational or U.N.
peacekeeping operations, including in Lebanon.
"We could not have thought of such an operation had we not tried to expand our
navy," Park said.
South Korea currently operates a single Aegis-guided destroyer, Sejong the Great,
but plans to build more as the country is backed by one of the most advanced
shipbuilding industries in the world.
Even as the role South Korea plays expands, its focus remains on maintaining
effective deterrence against North Korea, Captain Song Gi-seong said.
"North Korea still poses the single greatest threat to us," he said, speaking
inside the SS Jung Ji, the latest submarine built by South Korea.
"North Korea is also developing and producing submarines on its own," he said,
adding the North is believed to have constructed a number of underwater bunkers
to anchor its submarines, making it difficult for enemies to track their
activities.
According to the latest South Korean defense white book, North Korea has seven
times more submarines than its southern neighbor.
But many of them are outdated, analysts say, and numbers do not tell everything
when it comes to comparing the conventional forces of the two countries.
"North Korea has failed to catch up with the latest trends in defense technology
and refine its armory because of its isolation and its deteriorating economy,"
Baek Seung-joo, a researcher at the state-funded Korea Institute for Defense
Analyses in Seoul, said.
"That is one of the reasons the North is holding on to its nuclear ambitions," he
said.
North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium to make up to six nuclear bombs,
while the U.S. has guaranteed South Korea deterrence under a nuclear umbrella.
About 28,500 U.S. forces continue to serve in South Korea, forming the backbone
of the Seoul-Washington military alliance and monitoring the movement of
frontline North Korean troops.
But the U.S. is increasingly relinquishing its role on the Korean Peninsula to
South Korea as it relocates most of its forces further south of the border and
prepares to return wartime operational control of South Korean troops to Seoul in
2012.
South Korea gave control to the U.S. at the onset of the Korean War. The
peacetime command was returned in 1994.
Ties between the allies will likely remain strong even after the full transfer,
partly because South Korea still needs to learn much from the U.S. in air force
training, Brigadier General Kwon Oh-bong of 17th Fighter Group said at an airbase
in the city of Cheongju, 120 km south of Seoul.
The airbase, home to a range of fighters including F-4s and F-16s, serves as a
key base for launching retaliatory strikes against North Korea because it is only
150 km from the border, military experts say.
Kwon declined to elaborate on the mission of his unit, but expressed confidence
that his country's Air Force has surpassed that of North Korea in terms of
training and tactical capability.
"We fly hundreds of training sorties each day, whereas North Korea struggles to
secure enough fuel to lift their airplanes," he said.
Colonel Choi Hyun-kook, South Korea's top pilot trainer, said North Korea has
secured advanced fighter jets, but lacks ground radars and other facilities to
support them.
"Modern warfare isn't just about the capabilities of each fighter," he said,
speaking in front of a satellite-guided pilot training system that tracks the
movement of fighter jets practicing maneuvers as either friendly or enemy
aircraft.
Choi added his Air Force has secured data on the flight characteristics of over a
dozen missiles used by North Korean aircraft, incorporating it into its training
system.
"We continue to upgrade our system so our pilots can be as sufficiently prepared
as U.S. pilots, especially during combined exercises," he said.
Baek, the analyst, said the expanding strength of the South Korean military is a
result not only of the rivalry on the Korean Peninsula but also of the end of the
Cold War on a global scale.
"Each country is now free to pursue military strength on par with its economic
standing, unencumbered by restrictions that had been imposed by its superpower
ally," he said.
"South Korea is no different, and it is more confident than ever as it expands
armed forces that are backed by its economic spending and the military alliance
with the U.S."
samkim@yna.co.kr
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