Mr Eddie Lim, the Head of the Military Studies Programme (MSP), a component programme of the RSIS Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS), presented a paper in Seoul, South Korea, on Singapore’s national service experience. He was speaking at a conference titled “Developing Elite Reserve Forces for Future Security Environment”, organised by Korea National Defense University (KNDU) and its think tank, the Research Institute for National Security Analysis (RINSA).
In his presentation, Mr Lim highlighted how Singapore’s national service had evolved from a national security imperative into a nation-building platform binding Singaporean families together and its role in building a credible and modern armed force today.
Mr Lim’s visit to KNDU was one of the products of the growing relationship between RSIS and KNDU since the two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2016. Other than exchanging views on military matters, the MOU provides for joint research projects and seminars as well as exchanges of faculty and students.
MSP is the caretaker of the RSIS-KNDU MOU. As part of the MOU, MSP has been sending its faculty members to share their knowledge at the KNDU war college and command and staff course annually. Also, KNDU has been sending student delegations to RSIS annually. Most recently, in November 2019, the President of KNDU, Lieutenant-General Lee Seok Gu, and the Director-General of RINSA, visited RSIS, signifying the strategic importance of the MOU to KNDU.
