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the picture shows the kf-21 "quasi-stealth fighter" "developed independently" by south korea

according to south korean media reports, on september 2, the south korean ministry of national defense submitted a draft defense budget for 2025 to the national assembly, with a total budget of 61.59 trillion won (about 46.3 billion u.s. dollars), an increase of 3.6% compared with 2024. if approved, it means that south korea's defense budget will exceed 60 trillion won for the first time. against the backdrop of a severe economic situation and reduced fiscal revenue, south korea has significantly increased its defense budget, reflecting its intention to continue to expand its military and prepare for war.

the report said that for a long time, in some countries with relatively low security threats, such as france, britain, japan and germany, the defense budget accounted for about 1% to 2% of gdp; while in countries such as israel and poland that are in a state of conflict or confrontation or have more surrounding security threats, the figure is more than 3%. in recent years, many countries, including the united states, germany and france, have increased their defense spending under the circumstances of government budget tightening, and japan also plans to increase its defense budget to 2% of gdp by 2027.

against this backdrop, south korea believes that it must significantly increase its defense budget and accelerate the improvement of its defense capabilities. in the 2025 defense budget, 43.52 trillion won will be used for defense operations, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%; 18.07 trillion won will be used to purchase weapons and equipment and improve defense capabilities, a year-on-year increase of 2.4%. overall, south korea's defense budget has a clear focus.

first, strengthen the capacity building of the "korean-style three-axis system". the "korean-style three-axis system" consists of three parts: "kill chain", "korean-style missile defense system" and "large-scale punishment and retaliation operations". in 2025, the south korean military plans to invest 6.16 trillion won in the "korean-style three-axis system", of which 3.2 trillion won will be used to purchase "kill chain" strike platforms such as f-35a stealth fighters. this is to implement the agreement signed by south korea and the united states in december 2023 to purchase 20 f-35a fighters; 1.53 trillion won will be used to develop long-range surface-to-air missile systems to further improve the "korean-style missile defense system"; 0.62 trillion won will be used for the "large-scale punishment and retaliation operations" project, including upgrading special operations helicopters. in addition, it is planned to invest 1 trillion won in the production of domestic kf-21 fighters to implement the contract signed by korea aerospace industries and the government in june this year to produce 20 kf-21s.

second, promote the construction of multi-domain combat forces. the south korean military will increase investment in multiple fields such as ground, sea, air, space, network, and electromagnetic. specifically, in the ground field, deploy "anti-artillery positioning radar"-2, 230mm multiple rocket launchers, k series tanks and wheeled armored vehicles to enhance the precision strike and mobile combat capabilities in deep areas; in the sea and landing fields, deploy ulsan-class frigates, golden eagle-class fast patrol boats and attack helicopters to enhance the long-range three-dimensional high-speed landing combat capabilities of division-level forces and enhance the fleet's anti-ship, anti-air and anti-ground strike capabilities; in the air field, promote the kf-21 fighter to be put into actual combat, and upgrade the kf-16 and f-15k fighters to ensure air superiority and improve the ability to strike strategic targets.

the third is to strengthen the application of artificial intelligence in the field of national defense. the south korean military is changing its traditional combat method based on manpower, and continues to promote the deployment of medium and high altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to strengthen the monitoring capabilities of core targets. at the same time, it is strengthening cutting-edge unmanned systems, including personal battlefield visualization systems, unmanned reconnaissance vehicles, etc., developing manned/unmanned integrated combat systems based on artificial intelligence, continuously expanding intelligent forces, and expanding the application of cutting-edge technology to the field of national defense.

fourth, enhance national defense research and development capabilities. the south korean military will further expand investment in hypersonic, space, quantum, unmanned and autonomous technology to ensure that it has weapon systems that can change the concept of future battlefield use; continue to cultivate the national defense industry and improve the technical level of military equipment to stimulate military exports.

analysts pointed out that south korea, taking into account the complexity of the future security environment, domestic economic pressures and reduced manpower, has been constantly adjusting the direction and amount of its defense spending and developing its combat capabilities in all directions. this may further stimulate tensions on the peninsula and endanger regional security and stability.