FACED with constant missile and nuclear threats from its belligerent northern neighbour, South Korea is boosting its arms sales and aims to become a major exporter, a study said today.

South Korea’s arms industry accounted for 2.2% of global top 100 producers’ sales in 2016, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report listing the world’s “top 100” military services.

South Korean arms-producing companies’ combined sales totalled US$8.4 billion (RM34.3 billion) the same year with a 20.6% rise in sales compared with 2015, SIPRI added. 

“The increasing nuclear weapons capability in North Korea has led to major investments in South Korea,” SIPRI senior researcher Pieter Wezeman told AFP.  

In defiance of repeated international condemnations and sanctions, Pyongyang fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last week, which reached an altitude of 4,475km before splashing into the sea 950km from its launch site, North Korean state media said.

The North, which says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself from “hostile” US forces, has vowed to accelerate its weapons programmes in response to “evil” sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council.

South Korean arms exports, which amounted to US$253 million in 2006, reached US$2.5 billion a decade later, according to official data.

Its missiles, howitzers, submarines and warplanes are particularly popular in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and South America.

Seven South Korean arms groups rank among SIPRI’s top 100 global arms producers. The first of these, the conglomerate Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), which developed a supersonic training hunter T-50 Golden Eagle with the American Lockheed Martin, is in 48th place. – AFP, December 11, 2017.