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Dokdo
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Korea is currently outmuscled by Japan, researchers say
Questions about South Korea’s ability to defend its territorial sovereignty have resurfaced amid a deepening dispute with Japan over the islets of Dokdo. At a conference organized by the Navy, speakers urged South Korea to bolster its naval force, saying it falls far behind the naval power of Japan. At the conference “Military Reform 2020 and Korea’s Naval Security,” Lee Sang-hyun, a senior researcher at Sejong Institute, said, “According to the 2020 military reform plans, the South’s combat capability index compared to North Korea’s is expected to reach at 130% by 2020, with the number of tons of combined ships to total 120,000 tons, up from the current 70,000 tons.” Mr. Lee said, however, South Korea must build up more naval power if it wants to play a more balanced role in Northeast Asia and to protect Dokdo’s territorial rights against Japan, which has already four Aegis-equipped destroyers. “To match Japan, which operates four naval contingents with four destroyers each, South Korea needs three fast-moving naval contingents,” Mr. Lee said. However, South Korea plans to have only one naval contingent by 2012.Lee Keun-soo, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said, “Starting in 2008, Japan’s Navy plans to replace its current helicopter-carrying destroyers with new 13,500-ton-class helicopter-carrying destroyers and to enhance its anti-missile defense system by revamping its four Aegis-equipped destroyers.” To bolster its naval force, Kim Tae-hyo, a professor at SungKyunKwan University, proposed that the South Korean Navy buy one to two aircraft carriers and build helicopter-carrying destroyers, which are equipped with air-to-ship and anti-submarine missiles. The professor also called for the Navy to build submarines equipped with cruise missiles with a firing range of at least 200 nautical miles.
