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The ROKS Dokdo, a 14,500-ton amphibious assault ship South Korea orignally acquired with intentions of refitting it into a light aircraft carrier. South Korea's defense ministry now plans on acquiring a 30,000-ton light carrier by 2033. (provided by the South Korean Navy)

With the conflict between the US and China worsening by the day, there are growing concerns about South Korea’s plan to acquire a light aircraft carrier, a plan that was officially adopted last month by South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND). Given the precedent set by Japan, this carrier is likely to be mobilized for the containment of China as part of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy, which is focused on containing China.

In the mid-term plan for national defense in 2021-2025 released on Aug. 9, the MND announced that it would launch a project to acquire a 30,000-ton light aircraft carrier in 2021. The reasoning the MND provided for acquiring a light carrier is “protecting shipping lanes in the ocean and the waters around the Korean Peninsula.” Because “shipping lanes” here is a reference to the routes used to transport crude oil from the Middle East to East Asia, the operational scope of South Korea’s putative light carrier would have to be extended indefinitely to the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Middle East. And because it wouldn’t be possible for a single South Korean aircraft carrier to operate independently in distant waters, that carrier would inevitably have to coordinate with the US.

Japan serves as an intriguing case study here. Japan announced plans to acquire an aircraft carrier back in December 2018, one year and six months earlier than South Korea. In a defense plan summary and mid-term armament adjustment plans released at the time, Japan said it would be acquiring 42 F-35B fighters, a cutting-edge vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft produced by the US. Japan also said it would be retrofitting two 19,500-ton Izumo-class destroyers to hold those fighters.

By acquiring an aircraft carrier, an offensive strategic weapon, Japan was shredding its principle of exclusively defense-oriented policy, a principle it had maintained for over 70 years, since its defeat in World War II. But Japan pushed the plan through anyway, justifying it based on a purported need to “strengthen its antiaircraft posture in the wide area of the Pacific Ocean” and a “lack of airfields.”

During the nine months since then, the Abe administration has revealed its real reason for acquiring aircraft carriers. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump boarded the JS Kaga, one of the two Izumo-class carriers, while Trump was visiting Japan on May 28, 2019. Abe delivered a fiery speech on the occasion, which included the following remarks: “The Pacific Ocean must be made a free and open space. Japan will further strengthen its alliance with the US, which is a public good in the region, as it carries out its own proper role.” Abe declared that the US and Japan would act in military unison in the Indo-Pacific to block the rise of China. Japan is currently retrofitting the JS Izumo, a project for which it allocated 3.1 billion yen (US$29.2 million) from this year’s budget.

Over the last few years, the JS Izumo and JS Kaga have roamed as far as the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, projecting Japan’s military status. In June 2019, the Izumo conducted joint naval exercises with the USS Ronald Reagan, an American aircraft carrier, in the South China Sea, where a territorial dispute is ongoing between China and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Meanwhile, the JS Kaga has been dispatched to the Indian Ocean, near Sri Lanka, where it will be carrying out exercises from Sept. 7 to Oct. 17.

South Korea’s plan is even more ambitious than Japan’s. While Japan is retrofitting big destroyers already in its possession, South Korea will be building a 30,000-ton light carrier — half again as large as the Japanese carriers — from scratch. While South Korea talks about “pursuing harmonious cooperation between the New Southern Policy and the US Indo-Pacific policy,” it’s actually acquiring a military asset capable of putting pressure on China in concert with the US.

By Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter

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