Against strategic threats at sea: South Korea’s naval strategy and unmanned maritime systems

With development of Chinese Naval forces and deepening strategic competition, 60% of US naval forces are in the Indo-Pacific. As the region is rising as the strategic theater for geopolitical competition with many stakeholders with modernized military capabilities, Seoul is investing heavily in building a comprehensive, all-domain defense system. Recently it established a strategic command to oversee AI defense systems in support of its 3K policy of Kill Chain, Korea Air and Missile Defense, and Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation and announced its Defense Innovation 4.0. This paper examines the unmanned systems' effect on deterrence strategy and the development of Seoul's naval strategy under the evolving maritime security environment in the Indo-Pacific theater. Under the overarching theoretical examination of deterrence and fleet-in-being strategy, this paper seeks to understand Seoul's pursuit of Unmanned Maritime Systems (UMSs) under defense innovations plans and draw implications for South Korea's naval strategy, US-ROK alliance and emerging maritime threats in the Indo-Pacific.