By Anthony Crescente
13.07.2023
President Yoon Suk-yeol has attended the annual heads of state NATO summit for the second year in a row in Vilnius, Lithuania. He was joined once again by the heads of states of Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, collectively known as the Asia-Pacific Four (AP4). President Yoon concluded a busy summit on Wednesday that included bilateral meetings with the Prime Ministers of Norway, Sweden, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, New Zealand, and the Romanian President, which all centered around economic security cooperation on R&D, semiconductors, electric batteries, and supply chains. He also presided over a meeting with his AP4 counterparts in which he called for a stronger collective security posture in the Indo-Pacific that works closely with the NATO alliance. A bilateral meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida represented the continued strengthening of their relationship, and both leaders signaled their willingness to join a trilateral meeting with President Biden which will likely occur later this year in Washington.
President Yoon left the NATO summit with two accomplishments. One, is an expanded partnership with NATO called the Individually Tailored Partnership Program (ITPP) which builds of off their existing Individual Partnership Cooperation Program (IPCP) from 2012. This new partnership extends cooperation to eleven areas, up from seven, of which antiterrorism and cyber defense are the most notable. The other deliverable is an increase in info-sharing with NATO, which will take the form of South Korea being invited to participate in NATO’s Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation System (BICES). This apparatus also is likely to be exploited for the new nuclear consultation with the United States as a result of the Washington Declaration earlier this year.
Why is NATO interested in cooperating with South Korea?
NATO’s political leadership and its individual member states have been consistent with their desire to work on defense cooperation with the AP4 countries. With China being named as a strategic competitor of NATO, the imperative for closer collaboration is there in order to approach security issues with China as a united front. NATO has no interest in offering membership to South Korea or the others due to their geographic location, but many benefits can emerge for the member states regarding the AP4. These countries can support missions and operations of NATO, can take part in capacity building efforts like training and material support, enhance interoperability and integration of their respective forces, and give NATO members who want a stronger presence in the Indo-Pacific – particularly in the maritime domain – a forum to discuss port calls and combined military exercises.
NATO also will work with Seoul on security issues of the Indo-Pacific that affect them. Chief among these are cybersecurity and nuclear weapon proliferation involving China and North Korea. Open dialogue, information sharing, and creating unified responses to cyber-attacks and disinformation campaigns perpetuated by Beijing will help diminish their effect. Also, the opaque nature of China’s buildup of its nuclear arsenal and delivery systems is causing concern for NATO as the risk of proliferation to third countries or actors rises. North Korea was also mentioned in NATO’s 2022 strategic concept as a threat to their own security, particularly that of the United States. High level political dialogue with Seoul will help cooperation on this issue, along with furthering President Yoon’s foreign policy towards Pyongyang of working with allies and partners to put external pressure on the Kim regime.
Given the emphasis on the countries of Europe to do more for their own defense since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, along with the dearth of ammunition and overall defense industry underdevelopment, South Korea stands in a good position to provide munitions for NATO members. Begun under the previous President Moon Jae-in and continued under the current administration, South Korea is quickly becoming a major arms exporter and importer. Most recently this past month, South Korean defense industry officials met with NATO’s Aviation Committee launching an agreement to move toward granting South Korean aircraft airworthiness certification. This is required for any aircraft, or part, that is used in NATO missions, operations, and logistics. This development is particularly important given that one of the chief concerns of NATO’s defense posture is their inability to defend their civilian populations in the air domain.
Why is South Korea interested in cooperating with NATO?
South Korea’s collaboration with NATO expands its role as a Global Pivotal State for the rule of law, human rights, and the free and open international order. This has been a key component in President Yoon’s foreign policy as he aims for South Korea to play a larger role globally, not just in East Asia. This includes cooperating in the security domain as there is a growing recognition that regional security is beginning to give way to the concept of global security, especially given China’s revisionist tendencies and its close relationship with Russia. South Korea also works with NATO to find ways in which it can help contribute to peace in Ukraine through delivery of humanitarian and non-lethal military aid. Just before the summit, South Korea sent another batch of supplies to Ukraine which include minesweeping equipment.
As noted above, President Yoon used this summit to work on building its bilateral ties with NATO various members. One of the new developing relationships is the host country Lithuania. In 2021, Vilnius established it first embassy in Seoul. Before that point, the Lithuanian representative in China was responsible for Korean affairs. Trade and economic exchange will be discussed between the two countries, including technological cooperation on laser technology. This is consistent with the stated goal of NATO and the AP4 countries of having more diverse and reliable supply chains, especially for next generation technology.
After the NATO summit in Vilnius, President Yoon will visit Poland to hold a summit with Polish President Andrzej Duda. This and other meetings with the Polish Prime Minister and the legislature will build on the 2013 strategic partnership between the two countries. Last year, the Polish military purchased an unprecedented amount of South Korean tanks and howitzers, which was South Korea’s largest sale ever. This month, South Korea unveiled the FA-50GF light attack aircraft, the first wave of which is due to be exported to Poland this year. The certification process mentioned above will give Seoul’s defense industry another avenue for growth by making their aircraft more competitive in the European defense market and will add another supplier to NATO members. The tying together of defense industries will build much stronger links between NATO and South Korea with economic incentives on both sides for its continuation.
About the Author
Anthony Crescente is a research intern at the KF-VUB Korea Chair. He is a Master’s student in International Relations at Syracuse University’s Maxell School focusing on security issues in the Indo-Pacific. Before his internship with CSDS, he studied abroad in Seoul, South Korea at Yonsei University.
