South Korea became the 9th largest arms exporter in the world

Korea Research Institute for Defense Technology Planning and Advancement (KRIT) claimed in an annual report issued Monday that Seoul was the world’s 9th-largest arms exporter in the 2016-2020 period.

As per information published by the government in the Global Defense Market Yearbook 2021, South Korea accounted for 2.7% of the world’s total defense exports in that period. Its share in the global arms export market more than doubled from 0.9% in the 2011-2015 period. Major customers for the Asian country include Britain (14%), Philippines (12%) and Thailand (11%).

South Korea recently signed a $720 million contract with Australia for 30 K-9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers and 15 K-10 armored ammunition resupply vehicles. It has also been in talks with Egypt to export the artillery system, while pushing to sell mid-range surface-to-air (M-SAM) missiles to the U.A.E. in a possible deal likely to reach $3.5 billion.

The United States remained the world’s top arms exporter, followed by Russia, France, Germany, China, Britain, Spain and Israel.

Saudi Arabia was listed as the world’s largest arms importer in the yearbook, followed by India, Egypt, Australia, China, Algeria and South Korea.