KOREAN AMBASSADOR SEEKS CLOSER TIES BETWEEN NAF AND KOREAN MILITARY.{PHOTOS}.

          The Ambassador of the Republic of South Korea to Nigeria, Major General Lee In-Tae (Retired), today 4 July 2018, revealed the desire of his country for closer ties between the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and the South Korean Armed Forces. This disclosure came when he paid a courtesy call on the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, in his office at the Headquarters Nigerian Air Force (HQ NAF), Abuja earlier today. The proposed partnership is aimed at enhancing the operational capability of the NAF in the prosecution of the ongoing fight against insurgency and other forms of criminality in Nigeria.

In his remarks, the South Korean Ambassador revealed that the South Korean leadership was not unaware of the major successes that had been recorded by Nigeria in the fight against insurgency. He further stated that his country recognizes the contributions of the NAF to enhancing security in Nigeria and was therefore willing to provide support in the area of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capability as well as technical expertise, training and maintenance support towards further increasing the successes so far recorded in the counterinsurgency operations. The Ambassador used the opportunity to congratulate the NAF leadership for its painstaking efforts and resilience, which had repositioned the NAF into a more professional Air Force that is well respected around the globe.

While responding, the CAS congratulated the Korean Ambassador as well as the people and Government of South Korea for the successful efforts at restoring peace in the Korean Peninsular. He then thanked the visiting Ambassador for acknowledging NAF’s efforts at repositioning the Service for optimum service delivery. In addition, Air Marshal Abubakar expressed appreciation to the South Korean Government for its readiness to cooperate with the NAF towards proffering solutions to some of its challenges, especially in the area of ISR. He added that the gesture was most appreciated and should be replicated by other more technologically advanced countries. He reiterated that Governments all over the world would need to come together to form an alliance against a common enemy, which is terrorism. “Terrorism is no doubt a global threat but could easily be curtailed through global partnership”, he emphasized. The CAS assured the South Korean Ambassador of NAF’s commitment to the proposed partnership and promised to advocate for the signing of a corresponding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two Governments.

The visit of the South Korean Ambassador, and desire to partner with the NAF, are without doubts an indication of the increasing recognition of the enhanced professionalism in the Service in recent times.

OLATOKUNBO ADESANYA

Air Vice Marshal

Director of Public Relations and Information  

 Nigerian Air Force

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