Manohar Parrikar sets off for South Korea to boost defence cooperation

NEW DELHI: Defence minister Manohar Parrikar is now headed for South Korea with a top-level delegation to discuss ways to bolster bilateral defence cooperation, ranging from military exchanges to joint R&D projects.

The four-day visit beginning on Wednesday comes in the backdrop of India late last year scrapping the long-pending deal for South Korean mine countermeasure vessels (MCMVs), which are used to detect and destroy enemy mines, due to allegations of agents having vitiated the selection process.

Interestingly, Parrikar will also visit Kangnam Shipyard, which was involved in the negotiations. Under the now-scrapped project, two MCMVs and transfer of technology were to be acquired from Kangnam in a deal worth Rs 2,700 crore, with Goa Shipyard (GSL) building another six such vessels for over Rs 6,000 crore.

The defence acquisitions council, chaired by Parrikar in February, cleared a fresh Rs 32,000 crore project for 12 MCMVs, which will all be built by Goa Shipyard after it selects a foreign collaborator through a fresh tender.

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