By Lee Tae-hoon
South Korea is one of the world’s top arms buyers, and this year it plans to purchase 20 trillion won worth of weapons.
It is therefore not hard to imagine lobbyists doing almost anything to steer big deals to their clients. Thus, it can’t overstate the importance of a clear set of rules to eliminate any room for irregularities.
By this standard, it is lamentable that the state-run Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), which is responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons purchases, has few “firewall” regulations.
“There is no law or regulation to prevent nepotism,” DAPA spokesman Baek Yoon-hyeong confirmed.
Col. Baek was responding to an allegation that Brig. Gen. Cho Bo-keun at DAPA may have been connected to the selection of BAE Systems for a $1.1 billion deal to upgrade the nation’s aging KF-16 fighter jets. His elder brother, retired Rear Adm. Cho Boo-keun has long worked as a senior advisor to BAE. The company vehemently denied Cho Boo-keun had anything to do with its winning the deal, while DAPA also dismissed any possibility.
Still, rumors were rampant that Cho Bo-keun, who served as director general for DAPA’s aircraft programs until April this year, was in a position to influence the BAE selection. Lockheed Martin was the unsuccessful bidder and asked for a significantly larger amount of money, some industry watchers say.
A senior DAPA official said that many retired generals and admirals are hired by foreign arms dealers and their siblings often remain in active duty, being in an influential position, generating concerns of conflict of interest. “Half of DAPA officials should be let go of them, if family ties are banned,” he said.
Whether this is true or not, it is necessary to eliminate room for misunderstanding in the first place, because a great deal of money is at stake and competition is fierce. It appears to be important to lay down guidelines. But there is no effort being made. .
Sources say DAPA’s chief Noh Dae-lae came to know of the Cho connection but was unable to do anything due to the lack of regulations. Cho was at that time in charge of both the program to procure 60 advanced fighter jets at $7.9 billion and the FK-16 upgrade project.
Noh had to wait until a regular reshuffle to send Cho to the Air Force headquarters but some raised eyebrows due to the lack of regulatory grounds.
Lockheed Martin has yet to raise questions about BAE winning the KF-16 project, which calls for upgrading some 130 KF-16 fighters introduced in Korea since the 1990s. Lockheed now appears to be concentrating on the more expensive next-generation fighter program for which it competes with Boeing and EADS of Europe.
In this regard, Kim Young-ran, chairwoman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, claims that it is urgent for the country to introduce a law that sternly deals with nepotism.
Kim stresses that South Korea is one of the few advanced countries that overlook top ranking officials’ ethical breaches in giving undue favors to their relatives behind closed doors.
Observers say the Cho brothers and BAE Systems, may continue to enjoy a “special relationship,” but will face greater challenges in answering questions about possible shady deals and be under the watchful eye of investigation authorities for possible breaches of the law.