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| Patriot Missile System (File Photo) |
By Zachary Keck
South Korea’s Defense of Ministry submitted a budget to Parliament on Wednesday asking for 214.5 trillion won (US$192.6 billion) for the fiscal years between 2014 and 2018, Yonhap News Agency reported.
That breaks down to a yearly average of US$38.52 billion; according toYonhap, South Korea spent US$29 billion on defense last year, although the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) put the figure at US$31.7 billion. Parliament has approved around 34.5 trillion won (US$31.05 billion) for FY 2013.
The budget proposal submitted on Thursday focuses heavily on beefing up South Korea’s missile defense, with such capabilities accounting 13.7 percent of the entire budget request. This in essence proposes funding the improved missile defense capabilities the Republic of Korea (ROK) has announced in rapid succession since North Korea’s latest missile and nuclear tests in December 2012 and February of this year.
Although it has continued to refuse to join the U.S.-led missile defense system, South Korea has gradually come around to fielding its own indigenous system. While it first considered missile defense capabilities during the late 1990s, progress really only began in the last few years of the Roh Moo-hyun administration (2003-2008), following North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006.
Read the full story at The Diplomat