Dominant Factors Affecting Promotion of Defense Export in South Korea

Dominant Factors Affecting Promotion of Defense Export in South Korea

Recently, K-defense industry has achieved good results, ranking ninth among global arms exports for the period from 2018 to 2022. However, as competition among nations to dominate the global defense market has recently intensified, South Korea needs a policy plan that can present a future blueprint for its defense exports to become one of the top four defense exporters. Accordingly, this study identified the factors affecting the promotion of South Korea’s future defense exports and analyzed their priorities. Through a literature review and survey targeting experts related to the defense industry, this study identified key factors that affect the promotion of South Korea’s future defense exports Furthermore, to increase the reliability of the findings, we analyzed the priorities of factors affecting defense export promotion by applying the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method, which reflects the linguistic ambiguity and uncertainty of survey respondents and converts them into quantitative values. The results of this study showed that to expand future South Korean defense exports, the most critical factors are the development of advanced technologies through defense technology innovation and the establishment of a foundation for strengthening defense product quality and reliability. To achieve this goal, securing defense technology experts and strengthening capabilities should be prioritized, and tasks such as the application of the 4IR technology, collaborative defense technology research between industry and academia, and defense security technology development should be performed by advanced defense technology personnel. In addition, factors such as improving the defense export financing support system, establishing the defense infrastructure, and providing customized defense solutions considering the industrial and economic levels of the importing country were evaluated as important. This study has practical implications that could help establish plans to promote South Korean defense exports in the future. In addition, this study is expected to contribute to the sustainable growth of the South Korean defense industry, expansion of defense exports, and enhancement of South Korea’s position in the global defense market by proposing a strategic approach to strengthen the competitiveness of South Korea’s future defense exports.

Recently, K-defense industry has achieved good results, ranking ninth among global arms exports for the period from 2018 to 2022. However, as competition among nations to dominate the global defense market has recently intensified, South Korea needs a policy plan that can present a future blueprint for its defense exports to become one of the top four defense exporters. Accordingly, this study identified the factors affecting the promotion of South Korea’s future defense exports and analyzed their priorities. Through a literature review and survey targeting experts related to the defense industry, this study identified key factors that affect the promotion of South Korea’s future defense exports Furthermore, to increase the reliability of the findings, we analyzed the priorities of factors affecting defense export promotion by applying the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method, which reflects the linguistic ambiguity and uncertainty of survey respondents and converts them into quantitative values. The results of this study showed that to expand future South Korean defense exports, the most critical factors are the development of advanced technologies through defense technology innovation and the establishment of a foundation for strengthening defense product quality and reliability. To achieve this goal, securing defense technology experts and strengthening capabilities should be prioritized, and tasks such as the application of the 4IR technology, collaborative defense technology research between industry and academia, and defense security technology development should be performed by advanced defense technology personnel. In addition, factors such as improving the defense export financing support system, establishing the defense infrastructure, and providing customized defense solutions considering the industrial and economic levels of the importing country were evaluated as important. This study has practical implications that could help establish plans to promote South Korean defense exports in the future. In addition, this study is expected to contribute to the sustainable growth of the South Korean defense industry, expansion of defense exports, and enhancement of South Korea’s position in the global defense market by proposing a strategic approach to strengthen the competitiveness of South Korea’s future defense exports.