Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen's speech at the Seoul Defense Dialogue on 11 September 2024

It is a great honour and my pleasure to address today the 2024 Seoul Defence Dialogue and discuss the multiple security crises of our time now and later during the panel. 

I want to thank the organizers for the successful event and for the hospitality, as well as all the distinguished guests, speakers, and panellists for the fruitful discussions.  

Having arrived at Seoul on Monday, I have had the privilege to see the buzzing and beautiful city of Seoul. Being here on the Korean peninsula and being reminded of the history of the enormous development from a war-torn country into the prosperous country South Korea is today, I find similarities with Finland’s national experiences. Finland, too, had to fight to survive, had to rebuild our cities, develop our industry and economy, and to continue to prepare for a possible another invasion by an aggressive neighbour. 

Finland’s history and the geopolitical environment has resulted not just in a clear threat assessment, but also in a comprehensive understanding of security. The bearing idea is a collective understanding, that security and safety of Finland and its citizens is everybody’s business. To ensure the preparedness and resilience of our society, Finland maintains a concept of Comprehensive Security, which is a cooperation model through which vital societal functions are handled together by authorities, businesses, NGOs and citizens. 

Defence of Finland is part of the comprehensive security. In our system of total defence, where almost all available resources in the society can be re-directed to support national – and now collective - defence efforts, if need be, conscription and reserves are key. Thanks to the mandatory conscription system, defending Finland is not a remote idea to anyone, as almost every family has first-hand experience of the Defence Forces.

I want to believe that at least partly thanks to our approach to security, we have enjoyed peace ever since the Second World War. This is unfortunately not the case for Europe and Ukraine. 

Ukraine being now in a somewhat similar situation where Finland was during the Second World War, we have a strong sense of solidarity towards them and remain a steadfast supporter of Ukraine in her efforts to defend against a brutal, unjustified and illegal aggression by the Russian federation. 

If Russia benefits from its aggression, it will set a precedent around the world that use of military force against other states is a viable option to promote one’s interests. It is not. 

Following the international rules-based order, complying with international law and respecting the sovereignty of other nations should not be seen as voluntary-based. The international system developed after the Second World War is there to guarantee global peace, stability and prosperity, and it needs to be upheld and defended. 

This is evident particularly for small nations such as Finland. We joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization precisely because Russia, our neighbour for centuries, showed us, through aggressive actions, that it does not respect the rights and sovereignty of its neighbours. Therefore, we need to resort to building up deterrence and defence.

Although the main battlefield is on European soil, it is evident that the effects of war are felt throughout the globe. Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure has had an impact on food and energy security. The former hit particularly the African continent. Russia’s deepening cooperation with North Korea, Iran and China in support for Russia’s war efforts leaves many worried and creates instability directly also here in the Indopacific region. 

That makes it all the more important for democratic countries around the globe, respecting the rules-based international order, to stand together and show their support to Ukraine. And to make it clear, that using military force against other states to achieve one’s goals, is not acceptable in the international order.

The war in Ukraine and its ramifications is only one manifestation of how the security of Europe and the Indopacific region are interconnected. As I come from the North, I want to point out how the Arctic region also links the regions together more and more as the economic and military interests are rising and the importance of the opening sea lines of communication, the available natural resources and other factors are drawing actors from the west and east to that region.

While Ukraine continues its heroic defence in Europe, the Middle East has also rapidly destabilized, and the regional situation there, too, remains vulnerable. As a major region for energy supply and for the global maritime logistics, we experience the impacts of a geographically distant conflict practically instantly across the world. 

What connects the security of our regions the most is that some of the actors are the same. Russia is fighting a war in Europe and strengthening its ties to Indopacific countries like China and North-Korea, latter which – allegedly – has sent troops to Ukraine. China remains active in both regions. 

To sum up, the security of Euro-Atlantic and Indopacific are interconnected in many ways – by economy, by cross-regional actors, by other regions and many more, such as the geographically indifferent cyber environment or the vast space. Interconnectedness means more complex security situations which in turn means that they are increasingly difficult to tackle by individual countries or even by small groups of countries. 

Therefore, it is important that democracies in Europe and the Indopacific region work closely together. Here NATO and the European Union are excellent tools to deepen security dialogue and develop concrete cooperation to increase the security and stability of our respective regions. 

I look forward to our discussions. Thank you.