Yoon's Export Message for Third Day... "Establishing a Whole-Government Defense Export Support System" (Comprehensive)

-State Council Meeting, Export Strategy Meeting, and Defense Industry Site Visit... Three Days of 'Export Support and Strengthening' Messages
-Yoon "Defense Industry is a Future New Growth Engine and Core... Need to Improve Research and Investment Conditions for Defense Companies"

President Yoon Suk-yeol is speaking at the 2022 Defense Industry Export Strategy Meeting held on the morning of the 24th at Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in Sacheon, Gyeongnam. /

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 24th, "We will establish a pan-government defense industry export support system to expand defense exports into industrial cooperation fields such as nuclear power plants and construction." This is interpreted as a determination to develop the defense industry not merely as a security matter but as a major export industry, leveraging the strong export performance of defense companies this year.

On the morning of the same day, President Yoon visited Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in Sacheon, Gyeongsangnam-do, and presided over a defense export strategy meeting, saying, "Our defense industry is essentially a journey of creating something from nothing. We had no weapons made by our own hands, but now we have grown into a strong defense industry power." President Yoon chose the defense industry as his first field visit after repeatedly emphasizing the importance of exports in recent Cabinet meetings and export strategy meetings.

At the meeting, President Yoon highly evaluated the record-breaking defense export achievements reached this year and expressed gratitude to defense industry officials, saying, "Many countries around the world, including Poland, Australia, and Norway, hope to cooperate with us in defense." He added, "The defense industry is a future new growth engine and a core that drives advanced industries," emphasizing, "We must secure technological competitiveness capable of developing game-changing weapon systems for future warfare and improve the research and investment environment for defense companies."

He also promised government support. President Yoon said, "The government will maintain a thorough military readiness posture while actively supporting defense exports," and "We will establish a pan-government defense export support system to expand defense exports into industrial cooperation fields such as nuclear power plants and construction." Ultimately, this means that defense exports will contribute not only to our security but also to peace and stability in the international community and further strengthen solidarity with allied countries.

President Yoon instructed the military to actively promote package support including education and training, transfer of operational know-how, and follow-up logistics support to enhance allied countries' trust in Korean defense and to export target countries. Addressing defense companies, he urged, "Please maintain a close cooperative system with the government and military," and mentioned, "The entire system encompassing this is the defense industry and will contribute to peace in the international community."

A senior official from the Presidential Office interpreted President Yoon’s export support activities, continuing for three days, as emphasizing "that exports are the field that can provide a breakthrough in the current economic crisis." Following his remarks on the 22nd at the Cabinet meeting and the previous day at the export strategy meeting that "only exports are the way to survive," President Yoon ordered an all-out pan-government support campaign.

President Yoon’s statement the previous day that "To overcome the current external economic instability and financial market volatility, we cannot avoid driving exports. To revive exports again, we must reorganize all fields and policies, including industrial strategy and financial systems, toward the goal of export expansion," is in the same context. Accordingly, the government has designated ASEAN, the United States, and China as the 'three major core markets,' accounting for 57% of our exports, and the Middle East, Latin America, and the EU as 'three major strategic markets,' planning to establish specialized strategies tailored to each market.

This is also why President Yoon chose the 'defense industry site' as his first field visit to strengthen exports. In fact, Korea’s defense exports have already surpassed $10 billion this year, exceeding the previous annual export record of $7 billion. According to recent data from the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, Korea is expected to enjoy a boom in orders for the time being after successfully securing a large-scale export deal worth over 10 trillion won from Poland in July, including K2 tanks, armored vehicles, and FA-50 light attack aircraft. A Presidential Office official said, "In the export core and strategic markets selected by the government, the defense industry is the field with the highest competitiveness," adding, "We will continue to listen to the voices of the defense industry and actively work on improvements together with related ministries."

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