South Korea builds 'island
fortresses' By Steven Borowiec
Throughout South Korea's bid for the 2018
Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, it depicted itself
as a friendly nation eager to lead a peaceful
global order to "New Horizons" as the campaign
slogan went.
This image is at odds with
some of South Korea's recent actions. The South
Korean government and military are making quiet
efforts to expand the country's territory and
bolster control of disputed zones on its
periphery.
On July 10, the South Korean
government stated plans to submit a claim to the
United Nations this year for an extension of its
territory in the East China Sea. According to
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean
government will submit an official claim to
territory beyond its exclusive economic zone to
the UN Commission on the
Limits of the Continental Shelf by the end of
2011.
The announcement was made on a
Sunday, possibly to limit media coverage. The
additional area is believed to be rich in mineral
and oil deposits.
With territorial and
other disputes already on the rise in Asia, this
will almost certainly lead to conflicts with
neighbors China and Japan. South Korean officials
are planning to meet with both countries, who will
likely make claims of their own on the area in
question.
Along with that attempt at
extension, South Korea is making a series of
fortifying moves within its own territory. They
are as much a response to conflict as a potential
incitement to it.
With relations between
North and South Korea at their lowest point in
decades, the South Korean government and military
are significantly boosting security on South
Korea's outlying islands. After the November 2010
shelling of Yeonpyeong Island by North Korea,
President Lee Myung-bak's administration was
criticized for being poorly prepared and weak in
response. Lee then pledged to turn Yeonpyeong and
the other four Yellow Sea islands into
"fortresses" that could withstand North Korean
aggression. His government is now carrying out
that promise.
A new and enhanced defense
command system was recently established on
Baeknyeong Island to strengthen the military
presence in preparation for a possible North
Korean attack. Baeknyeong is the island closest to
North Korea and is near the site where the
Cheonan warship sank in March 2010.
It is a site of regular conflict with the
North because fishermen from both countries
operate in the area and the maritime border
Northern Limit line has never been recognized by
Pyongyang.
Four AH-1S Cobra attack
helicopters will be stationed within the new
command on Baeknyeong along with advanced
artillery-detecting radar and air-to-ground
missiles. Ten more cutting-edge PKG-class vessels
were recently deployed to safeguard the Northern
Limit Line.
South Korea is also trying to
strengthen its claim to the disputed Dokdo islets
by expanding helicopter facilities on nearby
Ulleungdo. Tensions between South Korea and Japan
recently flared when Japan took exception to
Korean Air making flights over Dokdo. Tokyo
announced a one-month ban of Korean Air followed
by lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party
announcing a trip to Ulleungdo and Dokdo for early
August.
Africa is an area of great
interest to the current South Korean
administration. South Korea once competed with
North Korea for recognition in Africa; it is now
competing with China and others looking to snatch
up undeveloped resources on the continent.
As a resource-poor country and net
importer of food, South Korea is looking deep into
Africa for arable land that may be leased for
agricultural use. Private companies such as Daewoo
Logistics with the support of the South Korean
government, particularly the state-owned Korea
Rural Development Corporation and Korea
Agro-Fisheries Trade Corporation, generally
undertake these initiatives.
Last week
while on a three-country tour of the continent,
President Lee called Africa "the hope for the
future of this planet". He described South Korea's
relationship with Africa as a mutually beneficial
exchange of natural resources for development
know-how.
During his visit, Lee also
expressed hope that South Korean firms would be
involved in extraction and infrastructure projects
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). South
Korea's Blue House has stated interest in sharing
their development experience with African nations.
Lee will unveil Korea's new initiative for
Africa's solid and sustainable development, Lee's
aides said. Korea is working with the DRC to
improve its woeful infrastructure by sharing the
experience of the Saemaeul (New Village) Movement,
a government-initiated rural development campaign
in the 1970s.
South Korea likes to use
major international events as a chance to both
show the world how much has been accomplished in
the country and seek external validation of that
progress. The 1988 Summer Olympic Games and the
2002 World Football Cup both marked gradients on
the country's development path. November 2010's
Group of 20 summit was celebrated by the South
Korean government as confirmation of passage to
fully developed country. Preparations are
already beginning for the eyes of the world to
again be trained on the tiny, often overlooked
country south of North Korea and sandwiched
between Asian giants China and Japan. As the
confetti in Pyeongchang is being swept away, South
Korean officials can begin to decide what visitors
will encounter on arriving in the country: a
friendly host, guileful competitor or some
combination thereof.
Steven
Borowiec is a South Korea-based writer.
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