South Korea's Ministry of National Defense is reviewing a plan to expand the operational range of the Cheonghae unit, the overseas deployment force operating in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, to the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, and to reinforce its assets with maritime patrol aircraft and other capabilities, according to sources. The ministry is weighing the measures ahead of submitting a motion to the National Assembly seeking consent to extend the deployment of military units to the Gulf of Aden off Somalia.
The Cheonghae unit, formally the Somalia Sea Escort Task Group, was established in March 2009 and dispatched to the Gulf of Aden near Somalia in Africa, where it conducts counter-piracy operations, escorts vessels and supports safe passage while protecting South Korean nationals abroad. Its name comes from Cheonghaejin, the naval base of Jang Bogo, the maritime commander of the Silla era.
The president does not have the authority to decide on an overseas troop deployment alone. Under the Constitution, prior consent from the National Assembly is required. The deployment motion approved by the National Assembly last year, for example, specified the Cheonghae unit's operational range as the Gulf of Aden area off Somalia. It also contained a clause stating that "waters as directed shall be included in the event of activities to protect South Korean nationals in a contingency," leaving room to widen the operational range.
Still, because the missions of South Korea's overseas deployment units are directly tied to international issues and face no small amount of domestic opposition, prior consent from the National Assembly must be obtained to clear up any legal dispute. Expanding the Cheonghae unit's operational range therefore requires specifying the change in the motion to extend the deployment to the Gulf of Aden off Somalia and winning the Assembly's consent.
What legal steps must an overseas deployment unit go through? Article 60, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution states that the National Assembly holds the right of consent over the dispatch of forces abroad. Accordingly, the government must in principle obtain the Assembly's consent in advance before sending military units overseas. The sequence runs from government review to Cabinet deliberation, presidential approval, National Assembly consent and then deployment.
The process begins with the defense ministry's director general for international policy, who reviews deployment policy in response to requests from the United Nations, regional security organizations or individual countries, gathering views from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the headquarters of each service branch and consulting closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other related agencies. The JCS chairman reviews the composition and operating concept of the deployment unit, while the chiefs of staff of each service examine available units, required budget and necessary equipment and supplies.
For the policy review, the director general for international policy sends a joint government survey team to candidate deployment sites together with the foreign ministry and other relevant agencies to assess overall local conditions. For U.N. peacekeeping operations, a senior foreign ministry official heads the team; for deployments outside U.N. PKO, a general-level officer from the defense ministry or the JCS leads it. The team drafts a report upon its return and briefs the National Security Council.
Four Korean units are currently deployed overseas
Once a U.N. PKO deployment is decided, the foreign minister drafts the deployment motion based on the plan reviewed by the defense ministry and submits it to the National Assembly after Cabinet deliberation and presidential approval. For deployments outside U.N. PKO, the defense ministry's director general for international policy drafts the motion based on the plan reviewed by the JCS and submits it to the Assembly after Cabinet deliberation and presidential approval.
U.N. PKO deployments go to the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee and then the plenary session for deliberation and a vote. Deployments outside U.N. PKO go to the National Defense Committee and the plenary session. Once the Assembly approves a deployment motion, the director general for international policy obtains the defense minister's approval and issues deployment preparation guidelines to the JCS chairman, who in turn issues ministry directives to the relevant agencies and units.
Following a deployment decision, the JCS chairman dispatches a local coordination team made up of experts from relevant agencies and units to prepare all necessary arrangements. The chairman may also send separate liaison and coordination officers when needed for working-level coordination with allied forces and mission headquarters on the ground, as well as for advance preparations. Deployment preparation committees may also be set up and operated at the JCS, the service headquarters and the deployment units.
For the deployment unit itself, the JCS chairman drafts guidelines on its mission, functions and composition with the defense minister's approval and notifies each service branch. The commander of a deployment unit selects officers from the relevant branch in line with the unit's mission, as a rule drawing them from dedicated deployment units and separately designated units where possible. General-level officers are selected by the defense minister with the assistance of the director general for personnel planning.
The chiefs of staff of each service issue education and training guidelines to the deployment unit based on the ministry directive and monitor implementation. The unit commander arranges for its officers to receive U.N.-mandated and designated courses at the International Peace Operations Center, along with training tailored to the specific deployment region. When aircraft or vessels are sent, plans for local maintenance, supply systems and movement must also be prepared.
Four South Korean units are currently deployed overseas: the Cheonghae unit, the Akh unit, the Hanbit unit and the Dongmyeong unit. The Cheonghae unit was sent to the Gulf of Aden in 2009 to protect international sea lanes, and the Akh unit was sent to the United Arab Emirates in 2010 as part of defense exchange and cooperation activities. The Dongmyeong unit was deployed to Lebanon on July 19, 2007, and the Hanbit unit to South Sudan on March 31, 2013, both as part of U.N. peacekeeping forces.
