Science and technology in defense, security

By Kim Sung-jin

We have successfully launched the KSLV-(Korea Space Launch Vehicle), a.k.a. Naro, earlier this year after many previous trials and much patience supported by hope and fortitude.

This first foot forward is symbolic not just because we've finally gone into orbit where only a few countries are able to exploit its values but also because the Korean government begins to realize the significance of priceless technology assets related to space and security.

Research and development activities led by the space development program have really changed our lives. Some benefits earned from GPS, LED, microwaves, water purification, even CT and MRI are too mundane to appreciate their real worth. And when we talk about technology spillover, the NASA program is not one-of-a-kind because state-funded R&D capabilities in a defense industry have helped us take advantage of radar, jet engines, nuclear plants, and even the Internet these days.

While some countries with accumulated space development experiences have already regarded these as a cornucopia of defense and security technology, we tend to disregard technological dominance in coterminous periphery such as China and Japan, which might be substantive threats someday.

Conventional tension between South and North on the Korean peninsula would be substituted for a state-of-the-art technology race in a post unification era. Should we fall short of keeping abreast with those countries, strategic equipoise would abruptly be tilted toward somewhere unpredictable not given a conspicuous foe i.e. DPRK. Now it is high time to rethink the undertones of the national budget in defense, security and even space technology.

In general, the science and technology applied in these domains seems to have been opaque because their real values have been cloaked in thick mist. Taking the KSLV-Ⅰlaunch experience opportunity, we should concentrate our efforts on developing space development R&D capabilities to be competitive in the East Asian military hegemony saga.

It goes without saying that systematically deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets along with ballistic missiles range will have a predominant impact on today's battlefields, most of which, in their technological origins, have come from the space and security development program.

So we need a well-trained policy practitioner and a researcher as well as scientist. One who with both insight and disinterested appraisal of a development program could help financial authorities prioritize each project for a right direction is in order.

Given that we annually implement about $10 billion in a defense budget program, what science and technology policy stance we adopt could be a map showing our descendants how to live. The same thing goes to $15 billion that spent for KSLV-Ⅰdevelopment program in the years 2006 to 2011.

Space, security, defense are not disparate anymore. An investment decision in one sector can trigger another as they are intertwined each other. So any advancement in one domain eludes promotion of de facto national interest as it is technologically and politically shoring up. North Korean political prowess when it comes to the negotiation table has been derived from their ballistic missile program, allegedly claimed to peacefully develop space, most of which, again, is quite identical.

Now we have to ask whether we have a national scheme to encompass these seemingly different areas. Of course it’s not easy to draw up a master plan as other etatisme (state socialism) nations do under a liberal democracy in which a government has to canvass the taxpayer’s opinion, hurdle every stratum of bureaucracy, and needless to say, make things happen with different organization structure in charge.

But we should remember sooner or later that we can face embarrassing moments without a meticulous national strategy for science and technology in defense, space, and security. I see cogent argument in fostering these areas is not valid anymore in the 21st century.

The writer is an associate research fellow at state-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analysis (KIDA). The opinions expressed are his own. His email address is sjkim@kida.re.kr.