South Korean Defense Industry: Time to Take Off the "Training Wheels?"

Posted: February 21st, 2017

By Daniel Yoon

Daniel Yoon is a Senior Market Analyst with Avascent Analytics. He is the lead analyst for international defense spending research at Avascent Analytics and is a specialist in the Asia-Pacific's military organizational structures, defense industries, and regional security matters. Prior to joining Avascent, Daniel was a cleared foreign language analyst in the U.S. Intelligence Community.

After decades of government support and investment, the South Korean defense industry can now produce advanced tanks, ships, and submarines and is poised to become a major arms exporter. South Korea intends to build on this progress in order to develop its own fifth generation fighter. The Cipher Brief spoke with Daniel Yoon, a senior market analyst at Avascent Analytics to learn more about the achievements of South Korea’s defense industry and the remaining challenges ahead.

The Cipher Brief: For many years, the South Korean government has pushed for a domestic defense industry capable of producing a wider variety of platforms and systems and for greater technological advancement. What are the government’s policy goals for this initiative; beyond national security and defense, are there other benefits?

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