HMAS Anzac is being decommissioned to make way for the new and evolved fleet under the Navy's general-purpose frigates program. (Defence: Lea Phillips
In short:
South Korea has its eyes set on landing a contract with the Australian Department of Defence to build its new general-purpose frigates.
It comes as part of its larger push for increased military cooperation with Canberra amid growing dominance of players like China and North Korea in the Indo-Pacific.
What's next?
Final bids are being completed for the lucrative project that will see the new fleet of smaller frigates for the Navy initially built overseas, and then locally, with many companies in the running.
Almost a year after clinching a multi-billion-dollar contract to build Australian Army vehicles, South Korea is again promoting closer defence ties as it seeks to win another lucrative prize; to deliver Navy's new fleet of "general-purpose frigates".
Visiting South Korean Vice-Defence Minister Kim Seon-ho will hold talks with officials in Canberra today to discuss possible future cooperation on AUKUS Pillar 2 projects, while also pushing for more joint military exercises and cyber cooperation.
"I believe we could increase our participation within the land forces exercises, and the second part is I believe we need to increase our exercises within the cyber domain," Mr Kim told the ABC during his only interview in Australia.
"[South] Korea's actually conducting, currently conducting lots of cyber exercises with the United States, NATO and EU countries and if it's possible I think we could conduct bilateral exercises [between] Korea and Australia and also multilateral exercises."
This week South Korea for the first time supported an Australian-led push to accuse Beijing of conducting large-scale cyber espionage targeting government and business networks, and was joined by Japan, Germany and Five Eyes intelligence partners.
South Korean Vice-Minister of Defense Kim Seon-ho speaking in Canberra.(Supplied: Ministry of National Defense)
Asked whether his nation would be interested in conducting joint maritime patrols with Australia in the South China Sea where China's presence is growing, the vice-minister was more circumspect, saying the idea should not be "limited to" just the two militaries.
"We believe there are lots of other threats and these kinds of threats I believe should be approached at a multinational view, therefore we should work together, the nations should [all] work together to react against these kind of threats," he said.
Mr Kim praised Australia's efforts to help enforce United Nations sanctions against North Korea and stressed the importance of continuing the military commitment given China and Russia's growing cooperation with the so-called "hermit kingdom".
ORIGIN OF THE HAVANA SYNDROME PERCHANCE
"Now it is more important to have these sanctions against North Korea. We should work together, [South] Korea and Australia, and collaborate together to work for the sanctions against North Korea," he said.
"North Korea is [conducting] illegal actions in the cyber domain and I believe Australia has many experts in this area, therefore I believe Australia would be able to work in the cyber area against the illegal actions of North Korea."
While attending a Republic of Korea — Australia Defence Conference in Canberra, the visiting minister said his nation was also "looking forward to participating in AUKUS Pillar 2 and cooperating with Australia" on advanced military technologies.
"Since March of this year we have prepared our plans on how we should participate with Pillar 2 and our position regarding this issue, however at the current point we have not reached any practical actions or cooperative channels."
Rival shipbuilders in legal battle to land frigates contract
Kim Seon-ho (right) with a representative of Hanwha Ocean.(ABC News: Andrew Greene)
In February the Navy's surface fleet review recommended the government rapidly acquire between seven and ideally 11 new "general-purpose frigates" to replace Australia's ageing Anzac-class fleet.
The Korean vice-defence minister is in Canberra as final bids are being completed for the lucrative project, which will see the new fleet of smaller frigates for the Royal Australian Navy initially built overseas, and then locally.
Companies from four countries are competing for the hotly contested shipbuilding project, including Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Spain's Navantia, Germany's TKMS, as well as two rival Korean firms — Hanwha Ocean and Hyundai Heavy Industries.
"In the future the navy of Korea and the navy of Australia, they are key forces which need to work together within the Indo-Pacific region, that need to closely cooperate and conduct missions together," Mr Kim said.
"If Korea is designated for the frigate program, we believe it would have a big effect on the cooperation between Australia and Korea … if these two nations were to operate the same weapons systems it would be very, very efficient in [terms] of interoperability."
He added there were "no new updates" on Hanwha's bid to take over West Australia-based shipbuilder Austal, and insisted it was a commercial matter for industry and "it is limited for the government to present our opinion".
Over recent months the rival Korean shipbuilders Hanwha Ocean and Hyandai Heavy Industries (HII) have been locked in a bitter legal dispute connected to the leaking of military secrets between 2012 and 2015.
In November II employees were found guilty of stealing warship technology related to the Korea Destroyer Next Generation project but are now suing Hanwha Ocean executives and staff for defamation over their recent comments about the case.
Last July the Albanese government confirmed South Korean defence giant Hanwha had beaten a bid by German company Rheinmetall for the $7 billion project to construct new state-of-the-art infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for the Australian Army.
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