South Korea President Moon Jae-in visit to strengthen ties

A planned mid-December visit by South Korean President Moon Jae-in would include the signing of a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’ agreement.

A visit from South Korean President Moon Jae-in would send a strong message to China that its efforts to isolate Australia from key regional partners have been unsuccessful. Picture: AFP

Australian and South Korean officials are working on plans for an official visit by President Moon Jae-in to Australia before the end of the year, as the nation moves to strengthen strategic and economic ties with its fourth-largest trading partner.

The likely mid-December visit is being planned to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the countries, and would include the signing of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” agreement.

The trip, which is yet to be finalised, would give a leg-up to Korean defence company Hanwha as it vies for a $20bn contract to build infantry fighting vehicles for the Australian Army.

It would also send a strong message to China that its efforts to isolate Australia from key regional partners have been unsuccessful.

Australia’s former ambassador to South Korea Bill Paterson said the trip would be highly significant, confirming the strength of the bilateral relationship and the nations’ shared strategic interests.

Moon Jae-in, left, with then ambassador Bill Paterson in Seoul in 2015. Picture: AAP

“The Chinese won’t be particularly pleased at a South Korean visit to a Quad and AUKUS ­member at this time,” he said. “I think Korea is trying to signal it does share interests with Australia and the United States in the Indo-Pacific.”

Mr Paterson said the federal government was keen to encourage South Korea’s “clear intentions” to look at Australia as a future energy supplier and a ­potential source of critical minerals to sustain its tech manufacturing sector. He said South Korea would likely seek supplier ­relationships and equity stakes in future Australian hydrogen projects to support its planned green energy transition.

Australia exported $25.2bn worth of goods and services to South Korea in 2020, including more than $18bn worth of iron ore, coal, natural gas and beef.

“Governments on both sides haven’t really given this relationship the sort of sustained attention it deserves,” Mr Paterson said.

Hanwha was confirmed last year as the preferred contractor to build 30 self-propelled howitzers and 15 ammunition resupply vehicles in Geelong under a $1.3bn contract. Hanwha is the underdog to clinch the much bigger ­infantry fighting vehicle contract behind German company Rheinmetall, which is already building Boxer armoured reconnaissance vehicles at Ipswich in Queensland.

But Australia’s need to boost defence ties with South Korea and Mr Moon’s likely visit suggest the Korean vehicle could become the frontrunner for the new ­contract.

The proposed visit would come ahead of the conclusion of Mr Moon’s five-year presidential term in March next year, giving him additional diplomatic room to bolster his country’s relationship with Australia without causing long-term problems with China.

Scott Morrison and Mr Moon have struck up a strong personal friendship, meeting most recently in Rome on the sidelines of the October G20 Summit, after an earlier meeting at the G7 summit in Cornwall in June.

Lowy Institute senior fellow Richard McGregor said the planned visit was “long overdue”.

“Australia has been keen to ­engage with South Korea at a much more strategic level for some time,” he said.

“South Korea is obviously very focused on the Korean Peninsula and North Korea, but there is also an increasing debate there – ­especially among young people – about China.”

Like Australia, South Korea’s largest trading partner is China. The country has also been on the receiving end of Chinese economic coercion, after its decision to deploy US-made THAAD missiles to protect key bases from North Korean attack.

It was hit by at least $10bn in trade boycotts targeting tourism, consumer and luxury goods, its big car makers, and even its K-Pop stars.

“Australia and South Korea face very similar dilemmas, except South Korea’s is more difficult ­because China is a neighbour and it has historically had leverage over the Korean Peninsula as a smaller state,” Mr McGregor said.

At a “2+2” meeting in September between Foreign Affairs Marise Payne, Defence Minister Peter Dutton and their South Korean counterparts, the nations’ reaffirmed their strong relationship “underpinned by the shared ­values of freedom, democracy, universal human rights and rule of law”.

Mr Dutton and South Korean Defence Minister Suh Wook committed to strengthening the bilateral defence relationship by “leveraging on the strengths of each other’s domestic defence ­industrial bases”.

Peter Lee, from the ANU’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, said the contract to build 450 infantry fighting vehicles would, if it went to Hanwha, be the country’s largest-ever defence ­export deal.

He said defence industry contracts could no longer be seen as commercial deals between firms and governments, but must be viewed as “a key component in the region’s security linkages”. “South Korean leaders have tended to view high-profile defence exports as anchors to cement partnerships and build national prestige,” he said. “Defence products comprise only a tiny fraction of South Korea’s $600bn annual exports, yet their political value often surpasses the semiconductor chips, container ships and cars that Korea is better known for.”