USSC Research Fellow Dr Peter Lee and Research Associate Tom Corben are quoted in CNN regarding South Korea's plans to become one of the world's top four weapons suppliers. They say sales like the tanks and warplanes to Poland and howitzers to Australia have already pushed Seoul into the "defence major league" with its "K-arsenal".
"Cast in a strategic light, Seoul's growing ability and willingness to supply advanced capabilities to other US allies should be welcomed, particularly as the Biden administration grapples with the parallel challenges of resourcing military strategies in Europe and the Indo-Pacific while shoring up America's own defense industrial capacity," Lee and Corben wrote.
"Even if questions remain over the true extent of South Korea's strategic alignment with the United States, Seoul is nevertheless generating strategic effects by arming states facing Chinese and Russian coercion."