Rise of South Korean arms exports

IN 2022, South Korean arms exports grew by 140 percent to $17.3 billion from $7.25 billion in 2021. That figure represents the highest arms exports in the history of South Korea. According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), South Korea's share of the global arms exports over a five-year period ending in 2021 was 2.8 percent, making it the eighth largest in the world. By comparison, during the preceding five-year period, South Korean arms exports accounted for just 1 percent of the global output for 13th place overall.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has grand ambitions for his country's defense industry, calling it a "new growth engine" for the future and a "driving force for high-tech industries." Yoon sees his country becoming the world's fourth largest arms exporter after the United States, Russia and France by 2027. Agreements with Poland, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are expected to help South Korea's push toward greater weapons exports in the coming years.

The Russia-Ukraine war is the biggest factor in the rapid increase of South Korean arms exports in the past year. However, Yoon denied in October 2022 that his country was supplying Ukraine with lethal weapons after Russian President Vladimir Putin leveled accusations to that effect. In fact, Yoon has been asked by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to reconsider his country's policy regarding its refusal to export lethal arms to Ukraine. South Korea is not directly selling to Ukraine in large part to avoid jeopardizing relations with Russia, which Seoul is leaning to for cooperation as North Korea becomes "increasingly belligerent."

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