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Defender of the Nation, Champion of Science: The Agency for Defense Development as a Nexus for the Technological Transformation of South Korea

Defender of the Nation, Champion of Science: The Agency for Defense Development as a Nexus for... The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) has functioned as South Korea’s central institute for weapons research and development (R&D) since 1970, when it was established by the Park Chung Hee regime (1961–79). As argued in this article, this quasi-private, quasi-public military institute also fostered major advancements of science and technology during the transformative decade of South Korea’s “militarized industrialization,” the 1970s, with a lasting impact on the private sector and business relations with the state. Drawing from in-person interviews with living scientists who worked on military projects of the Park state, as well as official records of the ADD and recently declassified government documents, the article tells the story of the ADD’s founding and details how, as a key player in Park’s pursuit of security independence, the agency spurred technological innovation and industrialization. Through weapons development, the ADD localized R&D, facilitated technological collaboration, established quality control and standardization methods within corporations, and enhanced the scientific workforce with advanced training, altogether promoting the scientization of the Korean private sector. By merging state and business efforts, and by combining military with civilian strengths, the ADD led a process of national scientization and technological governance that still operates at the heart of Korean economic growth today. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Korean Studies Duke University Press

Defender of the Nation, Champion of Science: The Agency for Defense Development as a Nexus for the Technological Transformation of South Korea

Kwon, Peter Banseok
Journal of Korean Studies , Volume 28 (1) – Mar 1, 2023
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Copyright
Copyright © 2023 Journal of Korean Studies Inc.
ISSN
0731-1613
eISSN
2158-1665
DOI
10.1215/07311613-10213182
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) has functioned as South Korea’s central institute for weapons research and development (R&D) since 1970, when it was established by the Park Chung Hee regime (1961–79). As argued in this article, this quasi-private, quasi-public military institute also fostered major advancements of science and technology during the transformative decade of South Korea’s “militarized industrialization,” the 1970s, with a lasting impact on the private sector and business relations with the state. Drawing from in-person interviews with living scientists who worked on military projects of the Park state, as well as official records of the ADD and recently declassified government documents, the article tells the story of the ADD’s founding and details how, as a key player in Park’s pursuit of security independence, the agency spurred technological innovation and industrialization. Through weapons development, the ADD localized R&D, facilitated technological collaboration, established quality control and standardization methods within corporations, and enhanced the scientific workforce with advanced training, altogether promoting the scientization of the Korean private sector. By merging state and business efforts, and by combining military with civilian strengths, the ADD led a process of national scientization and technological governance that still operates at the heart of Korean economic growth today.

Journal

Journal of Korean Studies – Duke University Press

Published: Mar 1, 2023

References

  • Defense Industries in Asia and the Technonationalist Impulse
    Bitzinger, Richard A.
  • The Emergence of the Chinese Techno-Security State: United States–China Great Power Competition in Comparative Historical Context
    Cheung, Tai Ming
  • From Korea to Vietnam: Local Labor, Multinational Capital, and the Evolution of US Military Logistics, 1950–1997
    Chung, Patrick
  • The Bloomberg Innovation Index: South Korea, 2015.” Bloomberg
    Coy, Peter
  • How South Korea Made Itself a Global Innovation Leader
    Dayton, Leigh
  • Han-Mi Hyŏpcho (Korean-American Cooperation) and the Origins of South Korean State Science (1945–1975)
    DiMoia, John
  • Reconfiguring Transport Infrastructure in Post-war Asia: Mapping South Korean Container Ports, 1952–1978
    DiMoia, John
  • Intelligence Memorandum-North Korea: Foreign Trade as a Force for Industrialization
  • The Chaebol and the US Military-Industrial Complex: Cold War Geopolitical Economy and South Korean Industrialization
    Glassman, Jim Choi, Young-jin
  • Military Expenditures, Technological Change, and Economic Growth in the East Asian NICs
    Heo, Uk DeRouen, KarlJr.
  • Modernization and Military in Latin America
    Heo, Uk DeRouen, KarlJr.
  • The Search for Deterrence: Park’s Nuclear Option
    Hong, Sung Gul Kim, Byung-Kook Vogel, Ezra F.
  • Han’guk ŭi misail kaebal kwa kwahakcha yuch’i
    Hong, Yongsik
  • The Role of Defense Industry in Innovation and the Development of Dual-Use Technology
    Hwang, Dong Joon
  • Ch’oe Hyŏngsŏp kwa ‘Han’gukhyŏng palchŏn model’ ŭi kiwŏn.” [Ch’oe Hyŏngsŏp and the origins of the Korean development model]
    Im, Chaeyun Hyŏngsŏp, Ch’oe
  • South Korea Leads World in Innovation as U.S. Exits Top Ten
    Jamrisko, Michelle Lu, Wei Tanzi, Alexandre
  • The Political Power-Mediated Expansion of Science and Technology under the Park Chung Hee Regime
    Kim, Geun Bae
  • Uri nara chobyŏng kisul palchŏnsa (3): kukkwayŏn ŭi t’ansaeng kwa ch’och’anggi hwaldong
    Kim, Kisŏk
  • Science and Technology: National Identity, Self-reliance, Technocracy and Biopolitics
    Kim, Sang-Hyun Corner, Paul Lim, Jie-Hyun
  • Science, Technology, and the Imaginaries of Development in South Korea
    Kim, Sang-Hyun
  • Ku Sanghoe Paksa ŭi Han’guk misail kaebal e taehan hoego
    Ku, Sanghoe
  • Anatomy of Chaju Kukpang: Military-Civilian Convergence in the Development of Defense Industry under Park Chung Hee, 1968–1979
    Kwon, Peter Banseok
  • Building Bombs, Building a Nation: The State, Chaebŏl, and the Militarized Industrialization of South Korea, 1973–1979
    Kwon, Peter Banseok
  • Mars and Manna: Defense Industry and the Economic Transformation of Korea under Park Chung Hee
    Kwon, Peter Banseok
  • Postcolonial Desire and the Tripartite Alliance in East Asia: The Hybrid Origins of a Modern Scientific and Technological System in South Korea
    Moon, Manyong Mizuno, Hiromi Moore, Aaron S. DiMoia, John
  • KIST esŏ Taedŏk yŏn’gu tanji kkaji, chŏngbu ch’uryŏn yŏn’guso ŭi t’ansaeng kwa chae saengsan
    Moon, Manyong
  • Pak Chŏnghŭi sidae kwahak kisul chedo kuch’ukcha: Ch’oe Hyŏngsŏp kwa O Wŏnch’ŏl” [Builders of the S&T policies of the Park Chung Hee era: Ch’oe Hyŏngsŏp and O Wŏnch’ŏl]
    Moon, Manyong Mihwa, Kang
  • Legacies of Militarism in the Korean Peninsula in the Twenty-First Century
    Moon, Seungsook
  • 25 cho wŏn Yulgok saŏp chinsil” [The truth behind the twenty-five-trillion-wŏn Yulgok Operation]
  • Pak Taet’ongnyŏng puguk kangbyŏng ŭi ch’eje katch’ura
  • The Roles of the United States and Japan in the Development of South Korea’s Science and Technology during the Cold War
    Park, Taegyun
  • Military Expenditure Trends for 1960–2014 and What They Reveal
    Sandler, Todd George, Justin
  • Baekgom: The Development of South Korea’s First Ballistic Missile
    Seltzer, Nicholas
  • Kukpang Kwahak Yŏn’guso kukpang yesan nangbi ŭi chuyŏk in’ga” [Is the ADD the main culprit behind the waste in defense spending?]
    Song, Munhong
  • ADD mugi kaebal 3 ch’ongsa ŭi haek misail kaebal pihwa
    Yi, Unyŏng
  • National Security: Defense, Development, and Self-Reliance through Defense Industrialization: The Case of South Korea
    Yoon, Hyun-Kun
  • Kukka yŏn’gu kaebal saŏp ŭi kunsajŏk kiwŏn” [The military origins of national R&D projects]
    Yu, Sangwŏn
  • Defense Industries in Asia and the Technonationalist Impulse
    Bitzinger, Richard A.
  • The Emergence of the Chinese Techno-Security State: United States–China Great Power Competition in Comparative Historical Context
    Cheung, Tai Ming
  • From Korea to Vietnam: Local Labor, Multinational Capital, and the Evolution of US Military Logistics, 1950–1997
    Chung, Patrick
  • The Bloomberg Innovation Index: South Korea, 2015.” Bloomberg
    Coy, Peter
  • How South Korea Made Itself a Global Innovation Leader
    Dayton, Leigh
  • Han-Mi Hyŏpcho (Korean-American Cooperation) and the Origins of South Korean State Science (1945–1975)
    DiMoia, John
  • Reconfiguring Transport Infrastructure in Post-war Asia: Mapping South Korean Container Ports, 1952–1978
    DiMoia, John
  • Intelligence Memorandum-North Korea: Foreign Trade as a Force for Industrialization
  • The Chaebol and the US Military-Industrial Complex: Cold War Geopolitical Economy and South Korean Industrialization
    Glassman, Jim Choi, Young-jin
  • Military Expenditures, Technological Change, and Economic Growth in the East Asian NICs
    Heo, Uk DeRouen, KarlJr.
  • Modernization and Military in Latin America
    Heo, Uk DeRouen, KarlJr.
  • The Search for Deterrence: Park’s Nuclear Option
    Hong, Sung Gul Kim, Byung-Kook Vogel, Ezra F.
  • Han’guk ŭi misail kaebal kwa kwahakcha yuch’i
    Hong, Yongsik
  • The Role of Defense Industry in Innovation and the Development of Dual-Use Technology
    Hwang, Dong Joon
  • Ch’oe Hyŏngsŏp kwa ‘Han’gukhyŏng palchŏn model’ ŭi kiwŏn.” [Ch’oe Hyŏngsŏp and the origins of the Korean development model]
    Im, Chaeyun Hyŏngsŏp, Ch’oe
  • South Korea Leads World in Innovation as U.S. Exits Top Ten
    Jamrisko, Michelle Lu, Wei Tanzi, Alexandre
  • The Political Power-Mediated Expansion of Science and Technology under the Park Chung Hee Regime
    Kim, Geun Bae
  • Uri nara chobyŏng kisul palchŏnsa (3): kukkwayŏn ŭi t’ansaeng kwa ch’och’anggi hwaldong
    Kim, Kisŏk
  • Science and Technology: National Identity, Self-reliance, Technocracy and Biopolitics
    Kim, Sang-Hyun Corner, Paul Lim, Jie-Hyun
  • Science, Technology, and the Imaginaries of Development in South Korea
    Kim, Sang-Hyun
  • Ku Sanghoe Paksa ŭi Han’guk misail kaebal e taehan hoego
    Ku, Sanghoe
  • Anatomy of Chaju Kukpang: Military-Civilian Convergence in the Development of Defense Industry under Park Chung Hee, 1968–1979
    Kwon, Peter Banseok
  • Building Bombs, Building a Nation: The State, Chaebŏl, and the Militarized Industrialization of South Korea, 1973–1979
    Kwon, Peter Banseok
  • Mars and Manna: Defense Industry and the Economic Transformation of Korea under Park Chung Hee
    Kwon, Peter Banseok
  • Postcolonial Desire and the Tripartite Alliance in East Asia: The Hybrid Origins of a Modern Scientific and Technological System in South Korea
    Moon, Manyong Mizuno, Hiromi Moore, Aaron S. DiMoia, John
  • KIST esŏ Taedŏk yŏn’gu tanji kkaji, chŏngbu ch’uryŏn yŏn’guso ŭi t’ansaeng kwa chae saengsan
    Moon, Manyong
  • Pak Chŏnghŭi sidae kwahak kisul chedo kuch’ukcha: Ch’oe Hyŏngsŏp kwa O Wŏnch’ŏl” [Builders of the S&T policies of the Park Chung Hee era: Ch’oe Hyŏngsŏp and O Wŏnch’ŏl]
    Moon, Manyong Mihwa, Kang
  • Legacies of Militarism in the Korean Peninsula in the Twenty-First Century
    Moon, Seungsook
  • 25 cho wŏn Yulgok saŏp chinsil” [The truth behind the twenty-five-trillion-wŏn Yulgok Operation]
  • Pak Taet’ongnyŏng puguk kangbyŏng ŭi ch’eje katch’ura
  • The Roles of the United States and Japan in the Development of South Korea’s Science and Technology during the Cold War
    Park, Taegyun
  • Military Expenditure Trends for 1960–2014 and What They Reveal
    Sandler, Todd George, Justin
  • Baekgom: The Development of South Korea’s First Ballistic Missile
    Seltzer, Nicholas
  • Kukpang Kwahak Yŏn’guso kukpang yesan nangbi ŭi chuyŏk in’ga” [Is the ADD the main culprit behind the waste in defense spending?]
    Song, Munhong
  • ADD mugi kaebal 3 ch’ongsa ŭi haek misail kaebal pihwa
    Yi, Unyŏng
  • National Security: Defense, Development, and Self-Reliance through Defense Industrialization: The Case of South Korea
    Yoon, Hyun-Kun
  • Kukka yŏn’gu kaebal saŏp ŭi kunsajŏk kiwŏn” [The military origins of national R&D projects]
    Yu, Sangwŏn