PHL,SoKor to Forge Defense Agreement

Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said the Philippines and South Korea will be signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on several defense issues, and as part of President Aquino’s state visit schedule to South Korea later this week.

“[President Benigno Aquino III and Korean President Park Geun-hye] will…witness the signing of an MOU between the defense ministries of the Philippines and Korea concerning cooperation in the field of defense,” Hernandez said during a press conference in Malacañang.

Hernandez revealed the MOU “covers a wide range of cooperation from exchange of visits by military personnel and experts to humanitarian assistance and international peacekeeping activities,” Gma news online report said.

“This is a very general MOU and this would be a basis for detailed agreements or activities later on once said both countries decide to undertake these activities,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez also added that there are also talks about South Korea helping the Philippines in acquiring “military material” such as ships, helicopters, and rubber boats, Gma news online report said.

“I’m not sure where it is now but the procedure is ongoing and we believe that Korea could help us in the upgrading of our forces,” he said.

Hernadez noted, however, that this agreement is different from the country’s Visiting Forces Agreement with the US.

“This is in furtherance of our defense cooperation and this will actually be something that would help each other in making sure that we have complete activities as far as defense cooperation is concerned,” he said.

The DFA spokeman added that aside from the signing of the MOU the two heads of state will also “discuss bilateral issues such as political dialogue, defense cooperation, trade and investments relations, official development assistance, consular and labor cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, among others. Regional issues will also be discussed,” Gma news online report said.

Hernandez said the President is expected to meet the Korean business community and the Filipino community in South Korea. There are around 42,000 Filipinos in South Korea, Gma news online reported.

Source: Gma news online