Arms Exports Claimed as "My Achievement" by Both Sides Ahead of Presidential Election...

On the 19th, the 'K2NO,' a Norwegian version of the K2 tank, was exhibited at the Hyundai Rotem booth during the 'Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition 2021 (Seoul ADEX 2021)' held at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. / Seongnam - Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Government agencies related to defense projects are being criticized for having a ‘flip-flop policy’ regarding defense industry exports. They are accused of changing the disclosure of defense export amounts and contracts depending on the administration and focusing only on promotional achievements.

On the 16th (local time), the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced that following the UAE Ministry of Defense’s decision to acquire Korea’s Cheongung-II (M-SAM2, medium-range surface-to-air missile), separate contracts were signed between domestic defense companies LIG Nex1, Hanwha Systems, Hanwha Defense, and UAE’s TTI company. DAPA Administrator Kang Eun-ho also responded “Yes” to the question at a local briefing in Dubai asking if there are ongoing negotiations for Cheongung-II export contracts with countries other than the UAE. This officially disclosed the contract signing and additional export contracts for Cheongung.

Considering that until now, it was kept ‘under wraps’ on the grounds that revealing defense export contracts and amounts to the media could jeopardize the contracts, this is a completely opposite behavior. DAPA declared in 2015 that it would not disclose defense export amounts.

At that time, DAPA said, "South Korea is the only country in the world that promotes its defense weapon export achievements to the media," and "From now on, we will not release official data on how much weapons have been exported." It added, "Recently, advanced countries such as the UK have been paying attention to Korea’s defense export growth, and the disclosure of achievements was judged not to be very beneficial to national interests."

However, the stance changed under the current administration. President Moon Jae-in emphasized at the 2017 ADEX opening ceremony, "Our defense industry must leap beyond the level of domestic production of advanced weapons to become an export industry." Accordingly, in January of the following year, DAPA promoted that defense export amounts surpassed $3 billion, a 25% increase compared to 2016 ($2.55 billion).

Government ministries followed suit. A senior government official disclosed during a background briefing (anonymous, off-the-record explanation to the media) after the 2022 annual work report joint briefing in December last year, "Defense exports have been around $3 billion annually, but this year it is expected to reach $4 billion or more," and "Currently, contracts worth $4.6 billion (about 5.46 trillion KRW) have been signed," adding, "Additional contracts are also pending."

In particular, the official explained, "In air power, the FA-50 trainer has achievements with several countries and is under negotiation with others," and "In air defense power, we are preparing contracts with the UAE for Cheongung-II (medium-range surface-to-air missile, M-SAM) after reaching an agreement."

As government ministries and higher institutions flaunted defense export achievements, subordinate organizations also joined in promoting their accomplishments. The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) published the ‘2021 World Defense Market Yearbook’ and promoted that Korea ranked ninth worldwide in weapon exports over the five years from 2016 to 2020.

Park Kyung-jin, head of the Defense Industry Research and Analysis Division at ADD, said at a regular briefing, “The export amount mentioned in the yearbook’s press release was quoted from already disclosed news reports.” This means the yearbook was published based on media reports rather than independent market research and analysis.

Regarding this, a defense industry insider said, “ADD is promoting itself as if it oversees everything related to defense, including exports, development, and technical quality, so it raises the question of whether other institutions are unnecessary.”