A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. /Reuters
Editor's note: Wamika Kapur is an Indian PhD scholar of international relations at South Korea's Yonsei University. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
On August 10, Seoul's Ministry of National Defense unveiled a defense plan of 300 trillion won (252.7 billion U.S. dollars) for the next five years (2021-25), which proposes an average increase of yearly defense spending by 6.1 percent.
This is a part of America's militarization efforts in Northeast Asia, specifically Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK), which have been heavily supplied with U.S. weapons over the past two years. It also shows the ROK's changing stance toward its national security with greater implications for its policies concerning the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the South China Sea.
On August 16, ROK President Moon Jae-in delivered his Liberation Day speech re-iterating his policy focusing on engagement between the ROK and the DPRK and "guaranteeing the life and safety of everyone living on the Korean Peninsula." He stated that cooperation with the DPRK "is indeed the best security policy that allows both Koreas to break away from reliance on nuclear or military strength.”
However, the defense plan makes very specific mentions of aspiring to build a native interception system like Israel's Iron Dome to counter threats posed by the DPRK's long-range artillery to the ROK capital and key installations near the inter-Korean border.
Even its plan to develop miniature satellites equipped with synthetic aperture radar capable of creating accurate images of targets on land are aimed at the DPRK's missile activities. The rapid military buildup is completely at odds with Moon's constant slogans about engaging in diplomacy with the DPRK.
This comes at a time when the DPRK has been assessed to have miniaturized nuclear weapons to fit ballistic missile warheads and the ROK is in deadlocked negotiations over burden-sharing with the U.S. on the Special Measures Agreement (SMA).
This plan highlights a change in the ROK's stance toward its national security by prioritizing military strength over engagement. And its military buildup with a focus on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) will definitely be seen as a hostile military act bringing it at odds with the conditions laid out in the September 2018 Inter-Korean Comprehensive Military Agreement regarding setting up of a joint committee about any plan that could be construed as hostile.
Further, this shows that the ROK, which has always downplayed the DPRK threat, is willing to deliver the promised repercussions of the DPRK bombing the inter-Korean liaison office and cutting off communications with the South.
China's manned submersible Shenhai Yongshi, or Deep Sea Warrior, prepares to dive in the South China Sea, May 21, 2018. /Xinhua
In terms of maritime security, the ROK plans to domestically develop a 6,000-tonne destroyer and a 3,600-4,000-tonne nuclear submarine with enhanced submersion, weapons and reconnaissance capabilities.
The most intriguing aspect of the plan involves the acquisition of a light aircraft carrier which would serve as the headquarters of the maritime task force in the event of a military clash at sea and is set to be a "multi-purpose military base capable of responding to transnational and non-military threats."
This development would make the ROK one of the few countries in the region with an in-service aircraft carrier, while China has two and Thailand has one.
The South China Sea is an active flashpoint in U.S.-China relations. The ROK, although not a claimant country, has deep diplomatic, economic and strategic interests in the region. It has usually maintained a neutral stance on the issue.
But by planning to deploy an aircraft carrier in the West Pacific to suppress threats and dispatch forces to a "disputed region in the sea" armed with U.S. F-35 fighter jets, it is choosing a side.
When the ROK's biggest threat is a land-based army, the aircraft carrier signals that the ROK Navy intends to operate farther from home than it does currently and not just provide domestic air support in case of a DPRK attack.
This defense plan fails the larger Defense Reform 2.0 project by the Moon Jae-in government preparing for the planned transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) from the U.S. to ROK in 2022.
It was supposed to be aimed at achieving a slimmer military and self-reliance based on defense exports due to faltering U.S. commitments to allies in the region. However, it is expanding forces and adding expenditures while serving American interests on a tactical level.
For the same reason, the defense spending has been critiqued by military personnel in terms of cost-benefit analysis, suggesting that logistics and training of South Korean military should take priority. Further, carriers cannot stay at sea continuously and eventually it will have to add more carriers.
The ROK has a responsibility to prevent any actions that will raise tensions in the region, but such America-led militarization will do the opposite by being perceived as a threat to the DPRK and China's national security, thereby increasing risk of accidents.
Further, this could also become a sequel to the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) controversy accruing economic damage to South Korea.