Page 220 - 2020 Defence White Paper

In particular, the visit of Russian
Ground Forces commander to the ROK
in the same year resumed the exchan-
ges between army generals after 16
years.
Meanwhile, the MND showed a f rm
response to the airspace intrusion of a

Meeting between the ROK Chairman of JCS and the Russian military aircraft over Dokdo
Russian Ground Forces Commander (October 2019)
Island in July 2019, in which the MND
strongly requested Russia for measures to prevent recurrence. The two countries
are in the process of making agreements on the installation of a hotline to prevent
accidental collisions caused by entry into the KADI .
Year 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between
the ROK and Russia. Various government-wide exchanges and cooperation measures
were devised to carry out meaningful projects in the field of defense ; however, the
countries are undergoing diff culties in holding exchanges and cooperation due to the
pandemic. As soon as conditions are met in place in the future, the MND will continue
to promote various defense exchanges and cooperation with Russia.

2. Expanding Defense Exchanges and Cooperation with Key
Countries in Each Region

Southeast Asia and The ROK has continued to make efforts to contribute to
Oceania the strengthening of regional security by establishing
multilateral cooperation with ASEAN on regional
security threat factors. The ROK is also promoting mutually benef cial and tailored
cooperation in the f eld of defense and defense industry that takes into consideration
each country̕s characteristics in line with the ROK government̕s New Southern
Policy (NSP) that aims to shore up cooperation with ASEAN.
President Moon Jae-in visited all 10 ASEAN member states within 2 years since
his inauguration, which is a first for a ROK President, providing an opportunity to
develop friendly and cooperative relations with all partner countries of the NSP.
In particular, during the President’s visit to Thailand–a traditional alliance and a
major defense industry cooperation country since the deployment of Thai troops
to the Korean War–the GSOMIA was signed and agreed with Thailand, thereby
solidifying the institutional foundation for promoting cooperation in defense and

2020 Defense White Paper