[Yang Nak-gyu's Defense Club] Fluctuating 'DSB Defense Export Figures' Announcements

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yang Nak-gyu] The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has decided to disclose defense export figures again, which it had not revealed for some time, drawing criticism of a "rubber band policy." DAPA had maintained a non-disclosure principle in 2015, arguing that revealing defense export amounts would not benefit national interests, but reversed this policy after five years.

On the 2nd, DAPA announced that it will now disclose quarterly key statistics of the defense industry, which had not been made public before. Additionally, it will improve the existing method of releasing annual statistics, which were previously published at the end of the following year, to ensure disclosure by the first half of next year at the latest. The five major statistics of the defense industry include sales, export amounts, personnel, operating rates, and operating profits of 88 defense companies.

DAPA explained that the timing of the release of key defense industry statistics was too delayed, limiting their usefulness as basic data for establishing defense industry development policies, and that the general public had difficulty accessing major statistics in the defense sector.

However, DAPA's policy on disclosing defense export figures has changed with each administration. In June 2014, DAPA heavily promoted that defense exports reached $1.35866 billion, forecasting that the export amount would hit an all-time high compared to the previous year.

The stance changed the following year. In January 2015, DAPA stated, "South Korea is the only country in the world that promotes its defense weapon export performance to the media," and added, "We will no longer release data on how much weapons have been exported." It also noted, "The fact that advanced countries like the UK are closely watching South Korea's defense export growth and that disclosing performance does not significantly benefit national interests was also a factor behind this decision."

Under the Moon Jae-in administration, DAPA's position changed once again. President Moon emphasized at the 2017 ADEX opening ceremony, "Our defense industry must leap beyond domestic production of advanced weapons to become an export industry." In January of the following year, DAPA promoted that defense exports surpassed $3 billion, a 25% increase from 2016's $2.55 billion.

Export amounts by item were also disclosed. Hanwha Ground Systems, a defense affiliate of the Hanwha Group, signed a contract with the Norwegian Ministry of Defense to export 24 K-9 self-propelled howitzers and 6 K-10 ammunition resupply vehicles by 2020. The export scale reached 245.2 billion KRW, and it was specified as the third export.

According to DAPA, defense export figures significantly decreased under the Moon administration. Defense exports from 88 defense companies amounted to 2.7358 trillion KRW in 2016. However, after the current government took office, the figures dropped to 1.7013 trillion KRW in 2017, 1.9991 trillion KRW in 2018, and recorded 1.7698 trillion KRW last year. Defense exports up to March this year totaled 329 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.