• Strategy21
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• s.44
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• pp.352-376
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• 2018

Through this research, the current state of naval coordination and guidance of shipping is reviewed whereupon which a suggestion is made for a novel role which satisfies the needs of the people and the country asked of the Navy. Taking into consideration the dynamic security environment, the developing relationship between the two nations on the Korean peninsula, and the influence that the Republic of Korea has on maritime security, it is made more urgent that the Navy takes a proactive course of action in terms of naval coordination and guidance of shipping. The current form of Korean naval coordination and guidance of shipping is adapted from the logical and flexible concepts of NCAPS and NCAGS and is one of many tasks that the Republic of Korea Navy must perform. However, when the Republic of Korea Navy develops blue-water capabilities with the ambitions of protecting its people and their way of life, naval coordination and guidance of shipping could potentially become one of the primary functions of the Republic of Korea Navy that the it must champion. Already, there are indications that foreign navies are, through many developments and commitment towards naval coordination and guidance of shipping, protecting its people and states' interests wherever is necessary. In the case of Chile, its Navy has taken the helm of naval coordination and guidance of shipping and has integrated various maritime organizations including the coast guard and the National Customs Service for the sake of maintaining regional maritime security, showing immediate force if necessary. Presently, as the Republic of Korea Navy looks to be a global naval power, it is important that a reprioritization of the Navy's mission is undertaken, all the while sustaining military readiness posture on the Northern Limit Line. It cannot be any more emphasized how crucial thorough military readiness posture is as a natural stance against the enemy. That being said, contributing towards international maritime security is consistent with the nation's standing. It is a fact that maritime security has been conceptualized and developed merely as a study within the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the Republic of Korea Navy, and other governmental organizations, forces, and academia. Naval cooperation and guidance of shipping suggested by this research as a practical operational field is a concrete solution to what once was an abstract concept. To stand firm on its status as a maritime nation, the Republic of Korea must establish a Maritime Security Organization within its Navy and develop the appropriate doctrines. Attaining experts, developing doctrines, and cultivating the capability to deploy maritime forces will allow for the Republic of Korea to execute a primary role in keeping international maritime security and naval coordination and guidance of shipping. To fully achieve its latent potential necessitates the Republic of Korea Navy to expedite the introduction of naval coordination and guidance of shipping concepts and to establish the appropriate doctrines, operation plans, and organizations.

• Strategy21
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• s.40
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• pp.115-130
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• 2016

The security environment surrounding the East Asian seas is rapidly changing due to the naval arms race among coastal states. The arms race is likely to worsen the security dilemma of the countries involved, thus increasing the chances for armed conflicts. It is too early to tell how the contemporary naval arms race in the region will evolve. But, for sure, the level of uncertainty is increasingly becoming high and intense. At the same time, there is emerging a legal warfare or lawfare among the rival countries. In particular, the United States and China have been involved in a serious debate about the nature and scope of the right of innocent passage and freedom of navigation in other countries' maritime zones. In collaboration with its regional allies, the United States has also put normative pressures on China with its excessive claims in the South China Sea. The latest arbitral tribunal case between the Philippines and China illustrates the point. With both arms race and normative competition in play, the future of East Asian maritime security will remain very complex and uncertain.

• Strategy21
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• s.36
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• pp.121-149
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• 2015

This paper will examine some past and current issues concerning the Republic of Korea's national strategy, focusing predominantly upon how the ROK should respond to the urgent maritime-oriented strategy highlighted by the recent developments and achievements of national prosperity achieved during last three decades and identify some of successful cases in East Asia. Some consideration will also be given to more general emergent issues of trends and developments of East Asian countries which might affect to define the ROK's future national strategy in the context of its national grand strategy to enhance national interests and prosperity. ROK is especially dependent upon open Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC) and its national security emphasizes the sea as the medium of geopolitical and geo-economic development, given the sea known as core geographic option remains that ROK is an important maritime power, ranking the world-level nation in term of GDP, sea-borne trade, container processing capability, shipbuilding capacity and so on. It should be apparent, therefore, that ROK's national strategic development depends upon the relationship between its peninsula geography and its national development based on sea-borne economic growth and its maritime-oriented future national strategy will be the best option to maintain its national development and economic prosperity.

• Strategy21
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• s.36
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• pp.59-93
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• 2015

A Paradigm shift is in process in China's foreign policies during Xi Jinping's era. Such changes occur with changing national identities from developing country to great power, and from continental power to continental-maritime power. China's pursuit for sea power embraces its global strategy. Accommodating the new identity of maritime power, China is developing its maritime strategy. New silk-road strategy actively utilizes China's advantage in economy, while avoiding direct military challenges against the U.S. China seeks an associated balance of power with the U.S. On the other hand, China make its determination clear to protect its core national interests, particularly Taiwan straits issue, deploying Anti-Access and Area-Denial strategy. 'Pax-Americana 3.0' and 'China's rise 2.0' have convoluted and evolved in complexity. South Korea faces much tougher challenges ahead in its foreign and security environments.

• Maritime Security
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-35
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to present the direction of development of our navy's response strategy through analysis at the ends, ways, and means level of the Chinese navy's offensive strategy for the West Sea. As a result of the analysis, at the ends level, the Chinese Navy's offensive strategy for the West Sea strategy is being linked to a grand strategy to protect maritime rights and achieve maritime power between the U.S. and China competition, at the ways level, the Chinese Navy is expected to create a foundation for the international community to recognize the West Sea as China's inland sea through "routine entry" and "exercise authority", and in case of emergency, it will try to secure sea control in the West Sea in a short period of time by blocking Korea's maritime transportation route based on the overwhelming preemptive attack capability of aircraft carriers. At the means level, it is accelerating the construction of aircraft carrier warfare units and improving its ability to engage long-range missiles. As a direction of development of the Korean Navy's response strategy in response to this, first, Establishment and Development of National Maritime Security Strategy in conjunction with the Korean Indo-Pacific Strategy. Second, it proposes the development of the concept of effective security operations for the east sea area of the West Sea intermediate line, and third, the development of the concept of combat performance and capacity building to strengthen survival and lethality.

• Strategy21
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• s.46
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• pp.29-56
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• 2020

Despite the deep concerns against the DPRK and the harsh sanctions imposed on it, the country renders the sanctions futile by facilitating various illegal trades such as the ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum or coal. Recently, the international community went into paying attention to solve this matter. Among the measures the community can take, "reinforcing the search and inspection of the DPRK related vessels transiting in the high and territorial seas" is the best policy approach to reduce the sanction evasion and provide the international community with considerable bargaining advantages. This measure requires the forceful action by legal enforcement agencies, also known as VBSS. (Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure) It would make the deals prohibited by the UNSCRs (United Nation Security Council Resolutions) less profitable by reducing the expected return on the deals and increasing the cost for them. So, it would make the illegal deals under the table less attractive. The DPRK has been able to render the sanctions futile by exploiting the limitations of the current maritime sanctions. The resolutions are short of being specific about law enforcement, and the PSI (Proliferation Security Initiative) is legally nonbinding. However, if the UNSCRs and the PSI are combined, they can generate a new source of power and exploit the weakness of the DPRK. Noting that the recent UNSCRs stipulated all the legal discussions in the resolutions are confined and applied only to the DPRK, the PSI can target the commercial trade as well as the WMD-related materials in the case of the DPRK's illegal maritime practices. Therefore, the PSI endorsing partners should go beyond mere commitments. They should discuss action plans to implement the maritime interdictions to the extent that they discourage the DPRK and its business partners continuing the illegal activities.

• Strategy21
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• s.44
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• pp.54-78
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• 2018

The core of the current constitutional amendment pursued by the Abe administration depends on the status of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, which include the right to engage in war, in the legal and regular military positions. This is an important turning point for the Abe administration, which aims to become a normal country for Japan, and it is a series of steps that followed in the revision of the U.S. and Japan guidelines in 2015 and the overhaul of the security law in 2016. In this paper, we propose building "A navy Attractive to Alliances" as a way to secure Korea's maritime security under the current security environment. The term "attraction" refers to the alliance "first priority" especially in the United States. The way to do this is to transform the paradigm of the ROK-U.S. alliance into a naval hub in the vast seas, which will allow us to strengthen our national defense and even deter threats from neighboring countries. To this end, our navy needs to have a more active approach to U.S. East Asian strategy. If we can convince the United States to be a nation that contributes more to its East Asian strategy, it will only lead to a strengthening of the status of its alliance and expansion of its unilateral support and military capability against Japan, thus minimizing Japan's influence.

• Strategy21
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• s.37
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• pp.65-103
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• 2015

This study is an attempt to look into the future role of the ROKN and to provide a strategic way forward with a special focus on naval strategic concept and force planning. To accomplish this goal, this research takes four sequential steps for analysis: 1) assessing the role and utility of naval power of ROKN since its foundation back in 1945; 2) forecasting features of various maritime threats to influence the security of Korea in the future directly or indirectly; 3) identifying the roles to be undertaken by future ROKN; and 4) recommending Korean way of naval force planning and the operational concept of naval power. This study seeks to show that ROKN needs comprehensive role to better serve the nation with respect to national security, national prosperity and development, and future battle-space management. To safeguard the national security of Korea, it suggests three roles: 1) national guard for the peaceful unification; 2) protector of the maritime sovereignty; and 3) suppressor to maritime threats. Three more roles are highlighted for national prosperity: 1) escort of the national economy; 2) guardian for national maritime activities; and 3) contributor to the world peace. These roles need to be closely connected with the role for the battle-space management. This paper addresses the need for a dramatic shift of the central operational domain from land to maritime in the future. This will eventually offer future ROKN a leading role for developing strategic concept and force planning rather than merely a supporting one. This study finally suggests 'balanced' strategy both in concept development and force planning. A balanced force planning is a 'must' rather than an 'option' when considering a division of function between Task Fleets and Area Fleets, constructing cutting-edge conventional forces such as Aegis destroyer, CVs, or submarines, and the mix of high-profile platform and low-profile when composing future fleets. A 'balance' is also needed in operational concept. The fleet should be prepared to fulfill its missions based on two different types of force operation i.e., coercive or cooperative application of the utility of naval force. The findings and recommendations of the study are relevant today, and will be increasingly important in the future to achieve various political goals required by enhancing the utility of naval power.

• Strategy21
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• s.30
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• pp.31-62
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• 2012

It is a commons sense that the Republic of Korea is a maritime state that depends its survival on International Trade and International Economy. Korea was a peninsula and do it can be both maritime and continental state by its choice. However, after the national division in 1945, South Korea had became a virtual island and pursue a maritime way for national development in the past 60 plus years. Now, South Korea is becoming a world's 12 th largest major trading and maritime state. South Korea has far more ships per capita than any other nations in the world and its economy is heavily depend upon the imports and exports with other nations in the world that pass through the oceans. Therefore, the Koreans regard the security of the sea lanes of communication as vital to the survival of the nation. The SLOC is the life line for Republic of Korea. Since the early 1990s, immediately after the Cold War was over, South Koreans began to recognize the importance of Sea Routes and thus began to build a navy that can handle with the new problems of the post Cold War era. However, the maritime security environments of the Republic of Korea today is shaky and dangerous. Almost every water near the Korean peninsula, some kind of international confrontations are going on. Territorial disputes on Dok do, Senkaku, Scarbrough, Shisha, Nansha and Eodo between and among Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Phillipines, Indonesia and Vietnam are the examples. In this essay, the author argues that the S. Korean efforts and capabilities to deal with these challenges are not enough and exhorts more efforts and more powerful navy for the Korean people.

• Strategy21
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• s.36
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• pp.150-179
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• 2015

This thesis analyzes Somali piracy as a non-traditional threat to the Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) and international countermeasures to the piracy. In an era of globally interdependent economies, the protection of sea lines and freedom of navigation are prerequisites for the development of states. Since the post-Cold War began in the early 1990s, ocean piracy has emerged as a significant threat to international trade. For instance, in the Malacca Strait which carries 30 percent of the world's trade volume, losses from failed shipping, insurance, plus other subsequent damages were enormous. Until the mid-2000s, navies and coast guards from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, together with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), conducted anti-piracy operations in the Strait of Malacca. The combined efforts of these three maritime states, through information sharing and with reinforced assets including warships and patrol aircrafts, have successfully made a dent to lower incidents of piracy. Likewise, the United Nations' authorization of multinational forces to operate in Somali waters has pushed interdiction efforts including patrol and escort flotilla support. This along with self-reinforced security measures has successfully helped lower piracy from 75 incidents in 2012 to 15 in 2013. As illustrated, Somali piracy is a direct security threat to the international community and the SLOC which calls for global peacekeeping as a countermeasure. Reconstructing the economy and society to support public safety and stability should be the priority solution. Emphasis should be placed on restoring public peace and jurisdiction for control of piracy as a primary countermeasure.