South Korea looks boldly ahead in mid-term plan
On 10 August, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) released a KRW300 trillion ($253 billion) blueprint for defence spending over the coming five years, including big-ticket items such as a light aircraft carrier.
The Mid-Term Defence Plan demands an average annual increase in defence expenditure of 6.1% from 2021-25. This means the nation’s annual defence budget will rise from $41 billion to $56 billion by 2025.
The plan lists spending of approximately $82 billion on developing and acquiring new weapons and equipment, accounting for a third of all the spending. The remainder of the budget goes on force sustainment.
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