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Korea aims to become top-four defense power by 2030, says Lee

Published: 20 Oct. 2025, 15:27 Updated: 20 Oct. 2025, 18:31

President Lee Jae Myung delivers a keynote address at the opening ceremony of Seoul ADEX 2025 at Kintex in Ilsanseo District, Goyang, Gyeonggi, on Oct. 20. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Lee Jae Myung vowed Monday to make a “bold and unprecedented” investment in defense and aerospace research and development (R&D) through 2030, declaring his administration's ambition to establish Korea as one of the world’s top four defense and aerospace powers.

“The goal of becoming one of the four leading countries in the defense industry is not an impossible dream,” Lee said during his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition 2025 (ADEX 2025), the country’s largest defense expo, held at Seoul Airport.

“Our nation, which once relied on surplus foreign weapons, now stands among the world's top five defense powers and has ushered in an era of $10 billion in annual defense exports,” Lee said. “This achievement is thanks to the efforts of successive administrations to develop the defense and aerospace sectors. Building on this foundation, our government will make bold investments to elevate Korea into a global top-four defense and aerospace powerhouse.”

Lee also laid out a detailed road map to achieve this goal. In the area of defense R&D, he pledged to focus investments on core technologies, components and materials that Korea must secure independently, such as specialty semiconductors, to “establish technological sovereignty.”

Given the world-class level of Korea’s private-sector technological capabilities and pace of innovation, the president said his government would fully support the private sector to play a leading role in defense modernization.

He also pledged to accelerate policy implementation by expanding the so-called “defense industry fast-track” system, which allows privately developed advanced technologies and equipment to be swiftly adopted by the military through a simplified review process.

“We will build a defense ecosystem where companies grow together,” Lee added. “We will lower barriers for entry for small and medium-sized enterprises and startups with excellent technologies and foster a cooperative industrial structure.”

Visitors look around the 2023 Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX) at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on Oct. 18, 2023. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Lee also emphasized the administration's strategic vision, calling the goal of becoming a top-four defense power a key state agenda item.

“This reflects our determination to nurture the defense industry — which has grown with the support of the Korean people — into a core national manufacturing sector,” Lee said. “We will do our utmost to ensure that Korea’s defense and aerospace industries become proud names in global peacekeeping.”

But Lee acknowledged the country could not achieve the goal alone.

“This great ambition cannot be realized by our strength alone,” Lee said. “The defense and space industries face clear limitations in relying solely on domestic demand and require vast amounts of capital and advanced technology. Solidarity and cooperation with the global market is not a choice, but a necessity.”

Lee concluded by pledging to position Korea as a “reliable partner in global defense cooperation” by promoting the country's new branding as a “security cooperation partner.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEONG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]