“If a crow-tit walks like a stork, he only breaks his legs.” This old saying is often quoted in debates these days on the role and mission of the Republic of Korea Navy. At present, the proverb that warns against over-ambitiousness in setting a vision for the future is used by those who are opposing the construction of a naval base on the southern coast of Jeju Island and the Navy’s vision of its ocean-going operations.
“Ocean-going navy” has been an on-and-off catchphrase of the ROK Navy over the past two decades. It has been considered as a concept contrasting the “coastal defense” mission of the Navy against North Korean provocations. Strategic debates have centered on whether Korea, as a major trading power of the world, needs naval capabilities of its own that can protect the sea line of communications stretching through the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Since President Lee Myung-bak mentioned an “ocean-going navy” during a press conference late last month in connection with the Jeju naval base project, Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and Chief of Naval Operations Choi Yoon-hee stressed the grand naval objective in their addresses to the graduation ceremonies of the Korean Naval Academy.
For a long time since the Korean War, South Korea had relied on the U.S. Seventh Fleet for the security of the outer seas while concentrating its naval capabilities on guarding its coast against North Korean infiltration. As the nation emerged as an economic power with rapid growth of trade, the ROK Navy officially adopted “ocean-going navy” as its service objective in 1995.
The heightening of tension in the West Sea, with naval clashes with North Korea since the late 1990s shifted national attention to bolstering coastal defenses, but the Navy continued efforts to develop its ocean-going capabilities with the acquisition of bigger warships, including Aegis-class destroyers. Army and Air Force authorities were anxious about sharing limited resources for the naval reinforcements. Yet, the Navy’s strongly appealing catchphrase helped it secure support from political circles.
The liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration finalized the Jeju naval base plan in 2007 as the first major step into realizing an ocean-going navy. However, the plan experienced rough going from the beginning, as the Navy authorities went through trial and error in choosing its location and Jeju provincial authorities moved sloppily in trying to win residents’ consent. The North Korean attacks on the Cheonan and Yeonpyongdo in the West Sea in 2010 called for an emphasis on coastal defense and encouraged the opponents of the ocean-going navy and the Jeju naval base.
And then, the Navy’s successful rescue of the Samho Jewelry from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden in January last year enthralled the public at home and increased the confidence of naval authorities to push ahead with the Jeju base project. In this election year, the nation is seriously split over the naval base issue and by extension the future mission of the Korean Navy. While violent clashes are expected to go on at Gureombi, public debates on the desirability of an ocean-going navy will continue through the presidential vote in November.
No one can tell what will happen in the months and years ahead to affect the national psyche about how our armed forces should protect Korean lives and property in the waters near and far. Whatever may occur, the nation should be warned against politicizing the matter for partisan interests in the increasingly contentious left-right confrontation.
About the Jeju naval base project, there can be no reversal because at least two successive administrations, one from the left and the other from the right, have approved it. And regarding the future projection of the ocean-going navy, the government and military authorities need to chart step-by-step plans considering both security and economic factors.
What is important is diplomatic efforts to participate in and contribute to global and regional security systems to ensure safety of international trading as no nation alone cannot protect all its vessels against Somali pirates. In deciding how much defense budget should be shared for the acquisition of more Aegis destroyers, submarines, transports and landing craft, the authorities and political parties should meticulously consider the adequate fiscal proportions for each of the three armed services.
The Republic of Korea may no longer be a crow-tit, but we should first look at ourselves and the moves of our neighbors before deciding to walk like a stork.
