South Korea’s defense export growth: a success story

World famous for its cutting-edge electronics and automobiles, South Korea looks set to conquer new heights. According to the 2024 Military Strength Ranking, the country is now the fifth-ranked military power in the world, yielding only to the USA, Russia, China, and India.

Recently, this Asian country has emerged as one of the fastest-growing military exporters, steadily earning recognition on the international stage. Over the last decade, South Korea’s defense exports have surged by 12%, making it the world’s 10th major supplier with a 2% share of global arms exports.

In 2021, South Korea’s military exports exceeded imports for the first time in history, although the nation still remains among the largest recipients of weapons – primarily from the US. This year, South Korea aims to secure $20 billion worth of defense exports, a sizeable growth compared with $14 billion of arms export contracts in 2023.

In the meantime, Seoul is not going to stop there, as the government has previously announced an ambitious plan to gain a 5% share of global arms exports by 2027. Reaching this goal would make South Korea the fourth-biggest defense exporter in the world.

To this end, the government pledged to strengthen support for the arms industry, placing a special emphasis on game-changing technologies such as AI and quantum physics. As part of this policy, the Defense Innovation 4.0 initiative was launched, with some progress already being made in the first half of the year.

This includes putting the nation’s second reconnaissance satellite into orbit, something that will allow Seoul to better monitor North Korea’s hostile actions. Also, the Defense AI Center was set up in Daejeon, with a function to oversee artificial intelligence