K-defence diplomacy: South Korea’s pivot to Europe

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As part of the Global Pivotal State (GPS) initiative of President Yoon Suk Yeol's government, South Korea has increased its diplomatic and political ties with nations outside of its immediate neighbourhood. The vision aims to maximise Korea's connections in the two vital domains of economy and technology and defence and security. This change was initially demonstrated in its December 2022 presentation of the Indo-Pacific strategy, which emphasised the importance of distant regions in its strategic imagination. Europe has been a vital strategic ally for Korea throughout this change, both as a developing market and a strategic player. The former is due to its dependence on an export-oriented model, and the latter is because of the EU's influence in international diplomacy. However, amidst the deepening and widening ties, defence cooperation is now emerging as a strategic area for both partners.

The vision aims to maximise Korea's connections in the two vital domains of economy and technology and defence and security.

South Korean defence Manufacturing and European demand 

South Korea's and Europe’s defence cooperation has significantly increased in the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as illustrated in Table 1. Primarily, two factors have contributed to this shift: the inability of the US defence industrial ecosystem to keep up with the supply-demand curve and South Korea’s ability to fill this demand at an affordable and fast pace. Earlier, the US was the major supplier of defence equipment to Europe; however, with its defence industrial ecosystems unable to fill the demand for all countries, South Korea was able to fill the vacuum, catering to the rising demand gap and emerging as a trusted partner.

Table 1: European Defence Expenditure and South Korea’s exports to the region 

S.No	Military Expenditure in Europe (USD billions)	Europe’s Share in Global Military Spending (percentage)	Military Expenditure in Central and West European Countries (USD billions)			South Korea Defence Exports (USD billions)
			Western Europe	Central Europe	Eastern Europe
2019	356	19	251	31.5	74	2.97
2020	378	19	273	33.6	71.7	3.08
2021	418	20	305	36.6	76.3	7.25
Post-Russian Invasion of Ukraine, 24 February 2022
2022	480	21	345*		135	17.3
2023	588	24	407*		181	14

Source: Made by the Author from SIPRI Trends in World Expenditure Report 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and Statista.

*The Data for years 2022 and 2023 for western and Central European countries are collated

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the defence exports to Europe shot up substantially, as reflected in the increased US$ 62 billion European defence budget from 2021 to 2022. This major part of the increase was captured by South Korea’s defence companies, such as Hanwa Aerospace and Hyundai Rotem Co., which have secured huge orders from Europe. The geopolitical development in eastern Europe (Ukraine) has helped South Korea venture into a new market beyond its traditional regions, such as Asia and the Middle East. Entering a new region has benefited South Korea by forging strategic defence partnerships and supporting like-minded countries. Besides supporting European countries with advanced defence systems, South Korea strategically supports NATO and its ally, the United States. Seoul understands the necessity of helping the US fight against what it sees as a ‘violation of the principles of the UN charter.’ This is also an act of standing on the side of like-minded countries against Russia, which is getting arms and ammunition from North Korea.

Entering a new region has benefited South Korea by forging strategic defence partnerships and supporting like-minded countries.

Europe’s Korean arsenal  

In Europe, the Eastern European region has emerged as a favourable destination for South Korean defence manufacturing companies, considering its proximity to the conflict and increasing demand for defence equipment, such as tanks and artillery. Countries like Poland, Romania and Estonia have shown greater interest in Korean weapons among the Eastern European countries. As per estimates, Korea exported defence equipment worth US$ 13 billion dollars to Poland in the last year, as shown in Table 2. This single deal has boosted South Korea's defence manufacturing potential, attracting greater attention to its regional defence industry. Due to this huge consignment of defence weapons, Poland, for instance, has further strengthened its partnership with South Korea, with negotiations going on for more defence deals. Korea is now Poland’s largest investor in Asia and aims to strengthen bilateral ties, expanding in new sectors like nuclear energy, batteries, and infrastructure. In an interview with the South Korean Daily, the Polish Minister said they see ‘South Korea as a key partner in strengthening Poland’s deterrence and national defence capabilities, particularly in modernisation,  co-production, maintenance, services and repair’. Despite burgeoning defence exports, this was not an easy task. South Korea faced many bottlenecks that persist. The change in political leadership in Poland emerged as a challenge for Korea, as the new administration was mulling over discontinuing the defence deals. Export finance was another issue that became an obstacle for Korean companies. However, after intensive diplomatic negotiations and support from the government, things were sorted.

Table 2: South Korean arms export to European countries

S.NO	South Korean Export to Countries	Types of Defence Systems
1.	Poland	1,000 K2/K2PL tanks, 672 K9/K9PL self-propelled howitzers, 48 FA-50/FA-50PL light combat training aircraft, 288 K239 Chunmoo rocket launchers
2.	Romania	54 K-9  Self-propelled Howitzers and 36 K-10 Armored ammunition resupply vehicle
3.	Estonia	12 K-9 propelled artillery system

Source: Made by Author 

South Korea’s defence exports have succeeded based on three important pillars: world-class performance, battle-tested products, and affordability. However, this success is limited to Eastern European countries, such as Poland and Romania, with some new openings in central Europe. Conversely, Western Europe has proved to be a tough market for South Korea due to the presence of existing defence industrial heavyweights like Germany and France.

Increasing Europe-South Korea defence and security ties

With increasing exports of critical defence systems, South Korea aims to strategically embed itself with the global defence manufacturing supply chain, creating institutional dependencies with its European partners. Although the economic rationale is part of its strategic thinking, Seoul understands it needs like-minded partners' support to keep pressure on North Korea. With these strategic partnerships, it is positioning itself as a trusted defence partner and supplier and a global strategic player, elevating its position in the eyes of allies like the US and its strategic partners in Europe. In reciprocity to its support to Europe, Korea has also received strong support. In the discussion between South Korea and European political leaders, the EU High Representative, Joseph Borell, ‘emphasised the EU's commitment to contributing to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and expressed his expectation for strengthened cooperation with South Korea.’

Germany joined the US-led United Nations Command (UN-C) in South Korea, becoming its eighteenth member.

Simultaneously, South Korea is deepening its defence and security ties with NATO and other European countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and France. Recently, Germany joined the US-led United Nations Command (UN-C) in South Korea, becoming its eighteenth member. The statement released by the German foreign office stated that it was ‘sending a signal for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula’ and strengthening its commitment to the Indo-Pacific by joining the UN-C.

This year, South Korea stood within the top 10 arms exporters, compared to its 31^st position in 2000, showcasing the potential and vibrancy of its domestic defence industrial ecosystem. This development provides necessary respite for its allies and partners, particularly at a time of flux in global geopolitics and the weakening of the US defence industrial ecosystem. With challenges like these continuing, South Korea’s defence manufacturing will benefit as it gets more entrenched in the global defence manufacturing supply chain. President Yoon's vision to make South Korea one of the top four arms exporters in the world will only expedite this journey. With the increasing arms exports, Seoul has established itself as a reputed and trusted defence partner, expanding defence cooperation with countries in different regions and building its unique K-defence brand.

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Abhishek Sharma is a Research Assistant at the Observer Research Foundation

• International Affairs
• The Pacific, East and Southeast Asia
• defence cooperation
• Global Pivotal State
• global pivotal state initiative
• Indo-Pacific strategy
• korean defence companies
• korean defense industry
• NATO
• South Korea
• south korea arms export to europe
• south korea defence cooperation
• south korea defence relations
• south korea eu relations
• south korean defence industry
• south korean defense companies
• US defence ecosystem

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