Park Suhyun, Senior Secretary to the Blue House: "A Government That Has Propelled the Defense Industry as a New Growth Engine"

President's Untold Stories Beyond the Briefing, Behind-the-Scenes of Defense Industry... President Moon Declares "A Truly Leading Defense Exporter"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] Park Su-hyun, the Blue House Chief of Public Communication, stated on the 26th on Facebook, sharing 'Stories about the President not included in the briefing,' "I take pride in the Moon Jae-in administration as a government that has become the 6th strongest military power in comprehensive military strength, a defense industry export country, and has strengthened national defense more robustly than any previous administration, elevating the defense industry to a new growth engine."

Chief Park explained the achievements of the Moon Jae-in administration in the defense industry while describing the results of the state visit to Australia. He evaluated, "Despite securing an export contract worth 1 trillion won for K9 self-propelled howitzers and K10 ammunition carrying armored vehicles through the state visit to Australia, it was a proud achievement that embarrassed some media and political circles who nitpicked, asking 'Was it necessary to go on an overseas tour amid the COVID-19 crisis?'"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding this, President Moon Jae-in said at the Blue House staff meeting on the 21st, "It is meaningful not only that our defense industry's global market share has increased but also that exports have surpassed imports, making us a genuine defense export country," and emphasized, "It is very important that the export items have shifted to high value-added and high-quality products, and I hope this is proudly shared with the public."

Chief Park said, "President Moon's remarks about the light aircraft carrier, which was a subject of debate and discussion during the recent National Assembly budget review process, fully reflect the president's philosophy and direction regarding the defense industry," and explained, "The president's philosophy was reflected in the significant expansion of the defense budget, defense capability improvement budget, and defense R&D budget investment."

The average annual increase rate of the defense budget during the Moon Jae-in administration from 2018 to 2021 was 7.0%. The average increase rate of the defense capability improvement budget was 8.7%, which is 3.9 percentage points higher than the previous administration, and the average increase rate of the defense R&D budget was 11.9%, an 8.6 percentage point increase compared to 3.3% under the previous administration, according to the Blue House explanation.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Chief Park stated, "The increase in defense-related budgets has not only strengthened autonomous defense capabilities but also steadily achieved visible results in the economic and industrial aspects of defense exports."

However, Chief Park said, "Considering the characteristics of the defense industry, which requires a long time from investment and technology development to operational deployment, it is not defined as an achievement of the Moon Jae-in administration alone."

Chief Park added, "I believe that the president's strong will and overwhelming budget input compared to previous administrations should be highly evaluated for rapidly developing our country from a rifle-exporting country to an aircraft and submarine-exporting country."

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