Page 196 - 2018 Defense White Paper

independence from the former USSR, and have been making progress toward political stability

and economic growth since independence.
In April 2015, the ROK and Uzbekistan signed an MOU on military education exchanges and
cooperation, and held defense policy talks every year to discuss ways to expand cooperation.

Education exchanges between the two countries have deepened starting in 2017, and instructors
from the Joint Forces Military University (JFMU) are dispatched to Uzbekistan’s military
academy to transfer their knowledge and experience in military science such as operational art.

In August 2018, the ROK Vice Minister of National Defense visited Uzbekistan to hold high-
level bilateral defense talks during which the two sides agreed to bolster education exchanges,
counterterrorism cooperation, and defense industrial cooperation. Uzbekistan also pledged its

utmost support and cooperation towards the ROK government’s efforts to achieve complete
denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, which will provide an impetus
for inducing Central Asian nations to play a constructive role in resolving the Korean Peninsula
issue.

The ROK and Azerbaijan signed an MOU on defense exchanges and cooperation in December
2013, which paved the way in enhancing bilateral defense exchanges and cooperation. The ROK

also signed an MOU on defense cooperation with Turkmenistan in May 2015, and the two
countries have been exploring ways for substantive cooperation such as systematic defense
industrial cooperation.
Since 2015, the MND has invited Central

Asian countries to the SDD to strengthen
communication as well as vitalize education
exchanges and defense industrial cooperation

between the ROK and Central Asian nations,
thereby actively supporting the ROK
government’s New Northern Policy on the ROK–Central Asia Plus Defense Vice Ministerial Talks
(September 2018)
defense front.
In 2018, the inaugural ROK–Central Asia Plus Defense Vice Ministerial Talks was held as a
result of the SDD.

The ROK–Central Asia Plus Defense Vice Ministerial Talks is a ministerial consultative body
to promote peace and common prosperity in Northeast Asia and Eurasia. The f irst meeting in
2018 was attended by the Vice Minister–level off icials from 4 countries, including Uzbekistan,

194 Chapter 5 Development of the ROK–U.S. Alliance, and Expansion of Defense Exchanges and Cooperation