South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday agreed to boost defense cooperation as their nations elevated ties to a strategic partnership amid growing security challenges in the region.
The two leaders discussed a range of issues including tensions in the South China Sea and on the Korean Peninsula during talks at the Philippine presidential palace where they also signed agreements on coast guard cooperation and nuclear energy.
“President Marcos and I opened a new chapter of our partnership by elevating our relationship to a strategic partnership,” said Yoon, who was on a state visit to Manila, the first by a South Korean leader in more than a decade.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Yoon said his nation would take part in the latest phase of the Philippines multibillion-dollar effort to modernize its military security at a time of rising tensions with China in the South China Sea.
South Korea has been trying to ramp up global defense exports, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine opened the door to sign contracts from Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
The nation, which has sold FA-50 jets, corvettes and frigates to the Philippines, aims to become the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter by 2027.
In the third phase of its modernization plan, the Philippine military is looking to buy advanced assets such as fighter jets, submarines and missile systems, to beef up territorial defense and maritime security.
The two leaders agreed to uphold an international rules-based order, including on safety of navigation in the South China Sea, Yoon said, adding that they agreed the international community would never condone North Korea’s nuclear program or what he called “reckless provocations.”
Yoon, who was elected in 2022 on a pledge to boost South Korea’s nuclear power industry by targeting the export of 10 more nuclear power plants by 2030, announced the signing of a memorandum of agreement for a feasibility study on the long-dormant Philippine Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.
The plant has not produced any electricity since it was finished in 1984, despite its US$2.3 billion price tag and its promise of energy security during the 1970s oil crisis.
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