S. Korea to Build World's No. 4 Defense Sector
By Reuters | 19 Oct, 2025

New President Lee Jae Myung sees outsize investments putting S. Korea's defense industry behind only the US, China and Russia.

A man films South Korean Air Force FA-50 fighter jets during Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition (ADEX) in Seongnam, South Korea, October 17, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Monday the country will devote a "larger-than-expected budget" in defense and aerospace research until 2030 as it seeks to build the world's fourth-largest defense industry. 

Lee was speaking at South Korea's largest-ever arms fair, the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition (ADEX) 2025, where firms showed off new unmanned and artificial intelligence-enhanced weapons from howitzers to suicide drones in pursuit of more global defence sales. 

South Korea ranked 10th in arms sales as of 2023, according to data from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's (SIPRI) top 100 arms companies data.

"Being one of the top four powerhouses in the defence industry is by no means an impossible dream," Lee said.

"We will establish technological sovereignty by focusing investment on the development of technologies, parts, and materials that must be secured independently, such as special semiconductors in the defence sector."

To its overseas defence partners, South Korea pledges to share not only its weapons systems but also "the technology and experience of building an industrial foundation", Lee added.

Arms have become one of South Korea's fastest-growing exports, especially since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, inking multibillion-dollar deals selling everything from howitzers and ammunition to missiles and warships around the world.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Tom Hogue)