Moon defends arms build-up, urges growth of S. Korea's defence industry

SEONGNAM • South Korea should redouble its efforts to become a global defence industry leader, President Moon Jae-in told a military expo in the outskirts of Seoul yesterday, after landing at the site in an air force fighter jet.

Clad in a flight suit, Mr Moon arrived at the biennial Seoul International Aerospace and Defence Exhibition (Adex) in the back seat of an FA-50 jet fighter, South Korea's first indigenous supersonic aircraft and a major defence export.

This came a day after North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine. Last week, North Korea opened a defence exhibition of its own, where leader Kim Jong Un said his country's military developments were for self-defence and accused South Korea of destabilising the peninsula with an arms build-up.

Mr Moon, in his speech yesterday, defended the South's increasingly sophisticated military as necessary for peace. "The goal of building strong defence power is always to foster peace," he said.

At least 440 companies from 28 countries are taking part in what organisers said was the largest Adex ever. About 300 government, military and defence acquisition officials from 45 countries were expected to attend the event, which lasts through Saturday.

Mr Moon said it was time for South Korea's arms industry to become a global leader. Pointing to the FA-50, he said: "I could feel the dashing dignity of the FA-50, which we've developed with our own technologies."

South Korea's arms exports from 2016 to last year were 210 per cent higher than from 2011 to 2015, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute data. It is also one of the largest arms importers in the world, buying major weapons systems like American-made F-35 stealth fighter jets in recent years.

REUTERS