hankyoreh

chief editor of Defense 21+

By Kim Jong-dae, chief editor of Defense 21+

The United States has never put aside its suspicions of the Lee Myung-bak administration, which has keenly encouraged domestic weapons producers to export their wares.

Washington has firmly believed that the Cheongsaengeo (Blue Shock) and Hongsangeo (Red Shock) torpedoes - known to be high-end Korean-made weapons - use technology stolen from the US-made Harpoon anti-ship missile, and that the Singung shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile (KP-SAM) uses technology pirated from the US-made Stinger missile. The Americans say these weapons‘ appearances and internal technology are the same as the US-made weapons.

In 2009, after Korea said it would export to Pakistan the ALQ-200, an independently developed jamming device for the F-16, Washington pressured Seoul. They asked if Seoul would really sell equipment suspected of using US technology to Pakistan, a country where Al-Qaeda is located and uses Chinese-made fighter jets.

Korean defense industry officials had to work hard to assuage the US government, which was kicking up a storm and citing the Wassenaar Arrangement, which regulates arms exports to hostile states.

Seoul even tagged on a pledge to abandon exports of the jammer to Pakistan because of complaints from Washington that US equipment would be installed on Chinese fighter jets.

In the midst of all this, in August of last year, the United States accused the Korean Air Force of breaking the seals on the Tiger Eye, a sensor on the American-made F-15K fighter, without permission.

This is to say, an 11-man team led by a Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State came to Seoul and caused an uproar, using very blunt language to Korean officials despite the fact the Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercises were going on at the time.

Faced with this menacing US attitude, the Korean side pledged to conduct a joint Korean-US investigation.

In October, however, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who did not believe the Korean government’s explanation, sent a protest letter to Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan in October; the letter took as established fact that Korea had pirated US technology.

Finally, during his visit to Seoul, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spent about one hour of his two-and-a-half hour summit with Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin discussing the Tiger Eye allegations, even demanding Seoul take measures to prevent illegal leaks of defense technology.

That same month, as the United States was pressing the South Korean government, the American media reported that Washington would sell US$49 million worth of radar jammers (ALQ-211) to Pakistan.

This was apparently the reason the United States put so much pressure of us not to allow Korean companies to export the jammers to Pakistan, which Washington had designated a dangerous nation. It was to snatch the exports of Korean companies and give them to US companies.

Distressed over this hegemonic and duplicitous US attitude, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) created the position of technology control officer in July of this year.

DAPA says it created the position to protect against the leak of defense technologies, but people in the know all understand it was connected to the follow-up measures Korea pledged to the United States during the Tiger Eye incident.

If you look at the weapons recently pushed by Seoul as exports, they are mostly European defense technologies, including submarines developed with Germany and helicopters built with European companies.

On the other hand, if we cooperate with the United States, we must take all sorts of grief and we can‘t export the weapons, either. This is simply rationalized in the name of strengthening the Korea-US alliance.

With missile sovereignty, nuclear energy sovereignty and the self-reliance of Korean defense industries already down the drain, the current administration - working hard not to run afoul of the Americans - appears to be pushing the large-scale introduction of US-made weapons around the end of Lee’s term.

Moreover, the US government is hurrying to sign a weapons deal before the end of the Lee administration. It has also been very busy with the move of US bases in Korea and getting a pledge from Seoul to boost its defense cost share.

Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, who is now in Seoul, plans to visit US bases in Pyeongtaek and Osan after his talks with Defense Minister Kim. Criticism is spreading that Carter is a “security salesman.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]