Weapons in South Korea

History

2022: Export growth of 140% to $17.33 billion

In 2022, arms exports from South Korea increased by 140% compared to 2021 and reached $17.33 billion. This became known in early March 2023.

According to The New York Times, since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine at the end of February 2022, the South Korean authorities have systematically refused to supply weapons to the Kyiv authorities. Still, some South Korean weapons technology has already made its way to Ukraine: Polish "Crab" howitzers that were sent to Ukraine use the chassis of South Korean K9s.

Korean tank K9

Instead of supplies to Ukraine, the South Korean authorities in 2022 concentrated on filling the world arms gap. In particular, Poland became the largest customer of South Korean weapons in 2022. Warsaw entered into a deal with South Korean manufacturers for $12.4 billion, which includes the supply of tanks, howitzers, fighters and rocket launchers.

South Korean weapons, according to The New York Times, have also attracted the attention of many countries in Eastern Europe. To accelerate the pace of production, South Korean arms manufacturers are also looking for opportunities to organize production on the ground. Thus, most of the howitzers supplied to Warsaw are expected to be assembled in Poland in cooperation with local enterprises in 2023. And Hanwha Defense intends to build a plant for the production of self-propelled howitzers K9 Thunder in Australia.

Unlike American allies in Europe, which have reduced their military and weapons production capacity since the end of the Cold War, South Korea has maintained a strong domestic defense supply chain, the paper writes. The country is meeting growing demand from partner states, as well as strengthening its own military and to defend against North Korea. According to The New York Times, from 2017 to 2021, the South Korean defense industry showed the best growth results among the 25 largest arms exporting countries.^[1]

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