India-Korea Naval Cooperation

South Korean Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gen. Jung Ok-keun, left, shakes hands with India’s Vice Admiral Jagjit Singh Bedi, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of India’s Western Naval Command during his May 19-22 visit to India.

By Lakhvinder Singh

Today the sea-lanes of communication in the Indian Ocean have become the maritime highways for vast trade flows, critical to the rapidly growing prosperity of India and Korea and the entire Asia-Pacific region.

Countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Japan have begun naval cooperation with India because they understand the critical importance of sea-lanes and the role the Indian Navy can play in protecting them.

Korean Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jung Ok-keun's trip to India last month once again highlighted the growing cooperation between Korea and India in the India Ocean.

Today there exist vast arenas where both navies can cooperate with each other. First, in military terms, the Indian Navy is one of the largest maritime forces in the region.

It has played a crucial role in increasing maritime bonding by initiating numerous confidence building measures, and conducts regular naval exercises with other Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and Southeast Asian navies. So far Korea has not participated in large-scale naval exercises with India in the Indian Ocean, but should consider these ``out of area'' exercises.

Second, the Indian Navy has made flag-showing visits to important ports in the Indian Ocean region an annual feature. Naval training establishments in India under the Southern Naval Command at Kochi regularly accept naval personnel from Southeast Asian and IOR countries for training.

The Korean Navy should begin flag-showing visits to Indian ports to build stronger and more influential relationships with the Indian Navy.

Third, the establishment of joint maritime centers (JMCs) at important ports and near ocean choke points would prove to be a milestone for maritime cooperation for both countries.

Fourth, anti-piracy programs, personnel exchanges, training and joint maritime search-and-rescue exercises could be important areas of cooperation between two countries.

Fifth, the Korean Navy can also participate with the Indian Navy in surveillance operations in the Indian Oceans to check illegal activities in the region.

Sixth, India and Korean navies can also conduct bilateral exercises involving search-and-rescue drills, exchanges of information, anti-submarine warfare, advanced mine counter-measures and anti-terror tactics.

Bilateral goodwill visits can strengthen the relations between the two countries. It can also lead to new areas of extensive cooperation such as training of personnel, hydrography, and sharing of naval intelligence as part of a comprehensive anti-terrorism agreement. Unfortunately no such institutionalized set-up exists between them so far.

Seventh, there is vast potential for Indo-Korean cooperation in the modernization of conventional naval forces with state-of-the-art technologies.

Both countries have to cope with the objectives of the industrially advanced Western countries in general, and the U.S. in particular, of maintaining long-term exclusive control over sophisticated technologies. It is against this background that there are very good prospects for Indo-Korean collaboration in developing their respective indigenous defense industries.

India, which has a vast pool of scientists and engineers, a thriving high-tech industry, and an advanced and promising modernization program, can be an important partner in the South Korean modernization of its conventional naval forces.

Both the Indian and Korean navies have a lot to gain from interaction with each other. Joint operations by them could lead to better patrols to help ensure the free flow of traffic through sea-lanes of communication and choke points.

The bilateral naval cooperation is not to form military alliances or contain any one country. Naval cooperation would ensure that no country is able to dominate the critical sea-lanes of communication in the Indian Ocean and that high seas remain open to all countries.

It will exercise caution and restraint on other countries before they embark on any misadventure or political coercion. It will also help to fight transnational threats that are causing serious concern to security of the sea-lanes.

The proposed naval cooperation between India and Korea should also be able to contribute to the construction of a new balance of power in the region.

With Korea as a close ally, dynamic growth in economy and military, and association with an increasingly prosperous Asia-Pacific region, India should be able to play a bigger role in the regional security paradigm in the East Asian region.

Similarly Korea with closer relations with India should be able to establish a strong foothold in a region that is becoming crucial for its growth and prosperity.

Thus taking into account India's and Korea's security and economic and strategic needs, serious attempts must be made to establish a mutually beneficial and more purposeful relationship with each other and play more assertive roles in promoting peace, prosperity and security in Asia.

Lakhvinder Singh, senior research fellow at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, is president of the Indo-Korean Policy Forum. He can be reached at parvkapc@rediffmail.com.