Commissioner Sanghyeop Lee: "Defense Industry Exhibitions Should Be Merged or Consolidated"

Interview with Sanghyeop Lee, Defense and Intelligence Committee Specialist, Democratic Party of Korea

As next year's general election approaches, defense experts from each party are coming to the forefront. A representative figure is Lee Sang-hyeop, a defense and intelligence committee specialist for the Democratic Party of Korea.

Lee, originally from Jangseong, Jeollanam-do, holds a master's degree in policy studies from Korea University and has served as a policy advisor to the Minister of National Defense. He is currently active as a defense and intelligence committee specialist for the Democratic Party of Korea. Last year, he took the lead in resolving various military-related issues such as easing and lifting military protection facility zones within the Paju area and simplifying access to the Civilian Control Line. In particular, in 2021, he sought support measures from defense companies for Sergeant Park Woo-geun, who injured his leg in a landmine explosion accident at the Hangang Estuary Janghang Wetland.

Lee, regarded as a leading opposition party figure in the defense sector with over 10 years of experience, recently praised the export of 'K-Defense.' He stated, “The results of efforts initiated during the previous Moon Jae-in administration are now yielding achievements one by one under the current government.” He added, “Core components of the Korean defense system, including the highly praised yet affordable K2 tank and K9 self-propelled howitzer, as well as M-SAM and L-SAM (planned for deployment), and the ground-to-ground missiles being developed under the Binik and Biik projects, will play key roles.”

Cost-effective K2 Tank and K9 Self-Propelled Howitzer Lead Exports... Need to Reduce Wasteful Defense Exhibition Budgets by Military and Agencies... Penalties on Defense Companies Hinder Defense Development

However, he pointed out the absence of a control tower for defense exports. Lee emphasized, “Although the previous administration established a Defense Industry Officer position within the National Security Office, it effectively did not fulfill its role.” He continued, “The meeting style of the Defense Export Planning Team, reorganized under the current National Security Office, is top-down and focused on export issues, failing to collect opinions from domestic companies or on system improvements related to defense exports.” As an alternative, Lee proposed, “A control tower organization for overseas exports should be established within the Defense Acquisition Program Administration’s Power Policy Office to enhance communication with each agency and region and to design export strategies.”

Regarding indiscriminate defense exhibitions, he advocated for consolidation. He said, “The National Assembly should thoroughly investigate whether there is budget duplication and waste due to overlapping defense exhibitions and coordinate accordingly.” He suggested reducing exhibitions hosted by various defense agencies and the military, such as the Defense Science and Technology Grand Festival, Korea Defense Parts and Equipment Expo (Defense Acquisition Program Administration), Korea Military Industry Development Expo (Army Logistics Command and Education Command), and Korea Power Support System Exhibition (Korea Defense MICE Institute). He especially emphasized that DX-KOREA, the Korea Defense Industry Exhibition, and ADEX, the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition, should be merged. DX-KOREA has recently faced disputes between the organizer and the host ahead of the 2024 event.

He stressed that penalties imposed on defense companies act as obstacles to defense development. Recently, the Dosan Ahn Changho, the first of the Jangbogo-III 3,000-ton class submarines, was fined 94.8 billion KRW in penalties due to delays in domestic development of the torpedo launcher. This fine amounts to 10% of the total submarine construction cost.

Lee stated, “There are still many loopholes in the penalty reduction system,” adding, “Each Defense Acquisition Program Administration IPT ambiguously interprets regulations and includes provisions not in the rules in special contracts, which only hampers project progress.” He further explained, “This is why the Democratic Party of Korea proposed an amendment to the Defense Acquisition Program Act in May to address institutional shortcomings, which is currently under discussion in the National Defense Committee subcommittee.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.