South Korea and Russia held a ministerial-level work consultation in Seoul on the 25th to discuss the issue of Russian military aircraft infringing on South Korean airspace.
On the 23rd, the South Korean military claimed that one Russian military aircraft twice “invaded South Korea’s airspace”, and Korean Air Force fighters rushed into the air and fired warnings. The Russian Defense Ministry responded by saying that Russia’s TU-95 strategic bomber did not invade the borders of other countries when flying over the Sea of Japan. Two South Korean F-16 fighters crossed the flight path of Russian strategic bombers and threatened the security of Russian military aircraft.
Liang Yongchun, a Chinese military expert, analyzed that Korean army had recently overreacted in a series of national defense security incidents and was related to South Korea’s eagerness to resume its wartime command from USA.
According to Liang, South Korea has recently appeared to be a little nervous on national security issues. Earlier this month, the South Korean army suddenly issued an alarm saying that its radar showed a helicopter invasion over the demilitarized area of the DPRK and the ROK. The Korean Air Force fighter jet took off to intercept it. The result flew to the target airspace and turned to be only a group of small birds.
In the middle of this month, the Korean army issued an alarm again, saying that the periscope of the enemy submarine was found in the western coastal waters. The South Korean navy and the sea police immediately joined forces and finally found only one fishing net buoy – there was no submarine at all. And this time they had friction with the Russian Air Force.
The recent reason why Korean army has always been so overreacting, and Moon Jae-in is very concerned about the government’s eagerness to recover South Korean’s wartime command. At present, the Korean military’s wartime command is still controlled by the US army. This is not a simple military issue, but a matter of sovereignty and dignity. If South Korea wants to resume its command as soon as possible, it must dispel two doubts from the outside world.
One is that whether South Korea has the ability to independently command the army to defend the country. Recently, the Korean military has repeatedly issued security alerts, which indicate that it’s too eager to prove itself.
Another doubt comes from the United States. Americans suspect that South Korea’s military independence will weaken the US-South Korea alliance and affect interests of the United States on the Korean peninsula.
Therefore, South Korea is particularly tough on Russia this time, in order to prove to the United States that even if it is militaryly independent, it will be a good US outpost.
Of course, this time the Korean army did not deal with the issue properly and actually fired on the Russian military aircraft – fortunately it was not hit. If it was accidentally hit, it would make a serious regional security crisis. The Korean army almost caused a big trouble to itself, reflecting that its immature emergency response mechanism.
Liang Yongchun said that this incident of Russian-Korean military aircraft conflict can only be properly resolved through diplomatic negotiations.
