Freedom is not free

In the not-so-distant future, wars will be fought by soldiers seated in front of computers, operating by remote control smart weapons that are faster, surgically precise and more powerful meaning more lethally efficient than existing ones.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

Touring the top companies in South Korea's defense industry in 0 the past days, I saw actual examples and concept models of such cutting-edge military and aerospace hardware and software.

They would seem like science fiction, except we're seeing some of these high-tech, high-precision weapons of war already being used in Ukraine and the Middle East.

South Korea and the other big players in the global defense industry are rushing to roll out hybrid electric-powered, unmanned military vehicles - not just aircraft but also tanks, armored vehicles and submarines.

What immediately came to my mind, considering the threat posed to our country by Asia's greedy giant, was that we lack neither the skills nor the resources to deter the threat.

China blasts our ships with water cannons with impunity, interferes with aerial patrols in our own territory and prevents our people from fishing within our maritime exclusive economic zone as defined by international law.

It might soon expand its gray zone harassment tactics against us through the use of drones and other unmanned vehicles and devices. Can we deal with such threats on our own? We have yet to wean ourselves from reliance on Uncle Sam for our self-defense. The US is stretched thin, serving as global cop on too many fronts. And Donald Trump, who won the presidency by a landslide, will not be the last unpredictable, inward-looking, self-absorbed US president who will make the world question the reliability of America as an ally.

Trump has openly expressed his wish for America's allies to shoulder more of the expenses for their own defense.

But South Korea has been developing an independent defense capability since Richard Nixon announced a similar policy in 1969 and US troop presence in South Korea was significantly reduced.