U.S., South Korea Seek New Defense Tech Partnerships.

• Author: Easley, Mikayla
• Position: NEWS BRIEFS

South Korea is looking to expand its alliance with Washington to include defense technology development.

The United States has long seen South Korea as a strategic military partner in the Indo-Pacific. As the Pentagon seeks to address instability in the area and accelerate its defense programs to match Chinese technological advancements, it should broaden its alliance with Seoul to include more industry and government collaboration, said retired Gen. Robert Brown, president and CEO of the Association of the United States Army.

"The world has gotten much more complex and dangerous than it has ever been, and it calls for more innovative cooperation than ever before," Brown said in February during a conference co-hosted by Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration, or DAPA.

South Korea's geographic position in Northeast Asia makes it not only an epicenter of trade, but also creates overlapping geopolitical interests between it and the United States, Brown said.

Additionally, the race for dominance in the development of emerging technologies--such as artificial intelligence, 5G capabilities, robotics, biotechnology and leveraging data--is key to ensuring stability in the Indo-Pacific, he added.

South Korea's commercial industries have made technological strides that the United States should tap into for the growth and development of its own defense industry, said Kang Eun-ho, minister of DAPA. The defense sector could leverage South Korean companies such as Samsung, Hanwha and LG, he noted.

South Korea's industry can...