GAPYEONG, April 27 (Yonhap) — The partnership between South Korea and Canada, forged on the battlefields of the Korean War (1950-1953), has lasted for several decades and is even strengthening amid deepening military cooperation, said the Commander of the Canadian Army, Lieutenant General Michael Wright, in an interview with the Yonhap news agency last Friday.
He came to South Korea to attend a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gapyeong, a major turning point in the Korean War. Over 2,000 soldiers from the 27th Commonwealth Brigade made up of forces from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand fought fiercely against Chinese forces in April 1951, at the peak of the three-year conflict.
“For Canada, this is a reaffirmation of our partnership that began on the battlefields in Korea in 1950 and continues to this day, even gaining strength,” Wright said in response to a question about the significance of the 75th anniversary of the battle.
“I am truly convinced that the history we share is an indicator of what we will do together in the future,” he added.
As the anniversary approached, soldiers from the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, a military unit that also took part in this battle, arrived in South Korea to conduct their first joint military exercises with the South Korean army.
More than 26,000 Canadian soldiers participated in the Korean War, with 516 losing their lives and 1,200 others being injured, according to the United Nations Command (UNC).
South Korea and Canada are looking to strengthen cooperation in defense, as President Lee Jae Myung and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed at their summit in Gyeongju last year to deepen their strategic partnership in defense, security, and the sharing of military intelligence.
Wright noted that Canada was in discussions with the South Korean defense industry as part of a project by Ottawa to modernize its army.
“The Canadian Army is currently working on our largest equipment modernization in over 25 years, and we are examining, according to our defense industry strategy, what we can do to quickly accelerate the deployment of new equipment within the Canadian Army,” he said.
Among the potential areas of cooperation, Wright mentioned, “The K9 howitzers are something Hanwha has talked to us about. The Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicle is another example.”
Hanwha Aerospace earlier announced that it had proposed an integrated solution including its self-propelled howitzers K9, the Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher system, and the Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicles, in a bid to win public contracts as part of the Canadian Army’s modernization project.
The Commander of the Canadian Army expressed optimism about the future of military cooperation between Seoul and Ottawa. “I think the military cooperation to come is much stronger,” he said, noting that the recent series of high-level visits between the two countries shows the increasing bilateral cooperation in a world he describes as “fragmented.”
