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Military Spending and the Arms Race on the Korean Peninsula

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Chung-in Moon  and
Sangkeun Lee
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The Korean War technically ended in 1953 with the signing of an armistice agreement. But not only has there been no peace treaty, but inter-Korean military confrontation and heightened tension have continued, often resulting in overt military clashes. Defying the new security architecture followed by the demise of the Cold War system, the Korean peninsula still remains as its last relic without any clear signs of conflict termination. Suspicion and mutual distrust emanating from the protracted conflict have further accelerated fierce conventional arms races on the Korean peninsula. Taking advantage of its economic growth and industrial maturity, South Korea has been maintaining an edge over the North in this arms race. Meanwhile, North Korea has responded to the widening disparity in conventional forces by venturing to play the nuclear weapons card. As a result, peace and security on the Korean peninsula have become all the more precarious and uncertain. Against this backdrop, the article examines the patterns of military spending of the two Koreas, compares their conventional military capabilities, and traces implications for weapons of mass destruction on the Korean peninsula. The article concludes with some policy suggestions for denuclearization and peace-building in Korea.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 8 , Issue 13 , March 2010 , e2
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2010

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