U.S. Is S. Korea's Top Arms Buyer
By wchung | 22 Apr, 2026

The United States bought $1.8 billion worth of arms from S. Korea over the past five years, becoming its biggest client, according to a report Wednesday by S. Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration.

Aircraft parts and ammunition were the Pentagon’s top purchases from the nation considered the U.S.‘s second most important Asian military ally after Japan.

S. Korea’s number two arms buyer was Turkey which purchased $1.4 billion worth during the five-year period. Indonesia was third with $782 million worth of purchases, including S. Korea’s first exports of the supersonic T-50 trainer jet.

Other major buyers of S. Korean arms like armored vehicles, combat cars and machine guns are Malaysia, Iraq and Pakistan.

In 2006 Korea’s arms exports totaled $253 million. In 2010 the figure jumped to $1.19 billion. In the first half of this year arms exports have already exceeded $680 million.

S. Korea’s efficient arms industry is the product of its unique situation as a thriving capitalist nation squared off for six decades against an isolated and bellicose regime across the world’s most heavily fortified frontier. On the north side is an army of 1.2 million, including 80,000 highly trained special forces troops and 12,000 artillery pieces. S. Korea’s 2010 military expenditure of $26.5 billion is the world’s 13th highest. At 2.9 percent, S. Korea’s military spending as a share of GDP ranks third behind the U.S. (4.7%) and Russia (4.3%) among major industrialized economies.