David Perry, President & CEO of Canadian Global Affairs Institute
By Adrian Olivier
A series of roundtable discussions, hosted by the Republic of Korea embassy in Ottawa on Monday, 27 May brought together industry, civilian and military leaders to discuss military cooperation at sea and joint industry and materiel cooperation.
The roundtable was organized jointly by the South Korean embassy, represented by Ambassador Woongsoon Lim and David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
Lim said the relationship between Canada and Korea goes back centuries and hailed the increased bilateral trade and defence relations, but encouraged further development.
“It is once again imperative that we strengthen our cooperation in security and defence,” the ambassador said.
LIM Woongsoon: Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Canada
“Last time when we fought together on the Korean battlefield, Korea was a helpless country relying on Canada and other friends for its survival. Today, Korea is the fifth most powerful military in the world and the eighth largest defence exporter,” Lim said.
Lim said this positions Korea as a reliable and capable ally for Canada and other like-minded countries to safeguard the rules-based international order.
That same Global Firepower list has Canada ranked in the 27th spot.
In 2022, Canada and Korea both unveiled new Indo-Pacific strategies. Canada’s strategy identifies the Korean Peninsula as one of the core regions in the Indo-Pacific and seeks to enhance Canadian contributions to the area’s security and stability, according to the Calgary-based Canadian Global Affairs Institute think tank.
Canada and Korea upgraded their bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership in September 2022 and signed a memorandum of understanding on defence research and R&D cooperation.
Later this year, the two countries will hold a defence policy dialogue.
The two countries actively cooperate in defence.
Marc Garneau, Chair of the Canada-Korea Forum and former minister of foreign affairs said Canada is involved in the Indo-Pacific in support of sanctions enforcement against North Korea as well as upholding the international law of the sea.
Garneau said that Canada will be deploying additional military assets to the Indo-Pacific and increase its investments in cyber security, warning of China’s “rapid and dramatic” modernization of its People’s Liberation Army, especially its offensive technological capabilities.
Despite Canada’s relatively safe geographic positioning, Garneau said it would be a mistake to think what happens in South Korea and other countries in the Indo-Pacific will not affect our national interests.
Garneau said there are “considerable opportunities for collaboration between Canada and Korea in defence procurement.” This cooperation is unquestionably in the interests of both countries and should be in a sustained manner, he said.
Garneau did acknowledge that it is an open question whether the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has the capacity and personnel to fulfill the enhanced and sustained military role that it has committed to in the Indo-Pacific.
Vice Minister of Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) Hwan Seug Kang said Korea would put great effort into extending defence cooperation with Canada.
Vice Minister Kang said Korea put an emphasis on speed and efficiency, which he said was faster than the process in Europe and North America.
Deputy Minister of the Department of National Defence (DND) Bill Matthews said Canada and Korea are actively working to advance the relationship, including defence and welcomed Korean defence industry interest in Canada.
“And as we continue to build and strengthen our defence relationship, we will continue to look for ways to collaborate on important initiatives like defence,” Matthews said.
Matthews mentioned Canada’s need for submarines, saying “You'll note in the new policy updates, Canada articulates its intent to explore certain capabilities, including submarines. Minister Blair has recently said it's imperative that we replace our submarines. So, I would view those words as explore, as we know we need to do it, we are just figuring out our path forward.”
He pledged that Canada would continue working with its allies and partners, like the Republic of Korea, to support collective defence.
South Korean Vice Admiral Dong Kil Kang and Canadian Rear-Admiral and Deputy Commander of the RCN Steven Waddell discussed military-to-military cooperation, acknowledging that both navy’s biggest issues were personnel.
RAdm Kang warned of the threat of North Korea and global challenges to maritime security in the Black Sea and Red Sea. He said that despite the large distance between Canada and Korea, the two countries need each other.
RAdm Waddell said the navy has not adapted quickly enough, with not enough personnel and increasingly older ships. He also said that by focusing on Europe and the Indo-Pacific, Canada was taking resources away from other regions.
To solve these issues, RAdm Waddell said a massive modernization of technology is required which includes cloud-based and AI-enabled solutions.
Particularly important is the introduction of secret cloud sharing between partner nations -in the event of a war in the Indo-Pacific, reliable communications which cannot be disrupted in an information war are essential.
Associate ADM Materiel of DND Nancy Tremblay said defence procurement by Canada from Korea would broaden the scope of the relationship in defence, materiel, training, development and operations.
“Up to now, the engagements have been extremely positive, both from Canada and from Korea. And I can testify to the fact that the lines of communication, I consider fully open,” Tremblay said.
In the aerospace sector, Pierre Pyun, Vice President of Bombardier said the company sees very significant scope to do much more in aerospace and defence.
Pyun said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Canada and South Korea could be a stepping stone for the industries of both countries to come together much more closely and suggested that Canadian defence cooperation with South Korea could be used as a test case to design and industrial strategy for defence.
“We are one of the few, very few nations that have the full breadth of capabilities, from design to manufacturing to delivery of aircraft that we can put to contribution for defence applications,” Pyun said.
Jason Ahn of Korea Aerospace Industry (KAI) said Canada could play a role in the production of T50 and FA50 trainer planes, which KAI is attempting to sell to the U.S. Navy.
He said the company is the definition of a system integrator and “unfortunately none of these suppliers are from Canada and we hope to improve on that.”
Ahn also suggested there could be cooperation on pilot training in Canada.
“As I mentioned, Korea is lacking airspace and you have plenty and maybe government to government level of discussion will come to some sort of agreement to mutually benefit both sides. Maybe you guys can open an international pilot school. So not only the Canadian fighter pilot, the Korean pilot, also international pilots around the world,” he said.
Senior Director of CAE Inc. Daniel Lauzon said his company has a memorandum of understanding with South Korean company Hanwha on the submarine replacement program. CAE will handle the training for the submarines. The company trains 4,000 civil aviation pilots in South Korea every year.
