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K-Defense Goes Global | Eye on Korea Ep. 38
South Korea’s defense industry has gone from supplying its own military to arming others, and “K-defense” is now one of Seoul’s fastest-growing exports. Rob Rapson, a career U.S. diplomat who spent decades shaping the U.S.-South Korea relationship, joins Scott Snyder to trace how South Korean arms sales went global and their implications for the country’s relationship with Europe as it competes for, and supplies into, the region’s rearmament.
Rapson also walks through South Korea’s decades-deep footprint in the Middle East, from construction contracts to defense deals, and assesses the energy crisis impacting one of the world’s most energy-dependent advanced economies. The conversation also examines the Lee Jae Myung administration, its approach to Washington, and the surprising warmth of the South Korea-Japan relationship, as well as potential speed bumps Rapson sees ahead.
The episode also discusses security issues within the alliance, including North Korea, the wartime operational control conversation, the U.S.-South Korea 123 agreement, and South Korea’s bid for civilian nuclear participation.
[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]
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By Korea Economic InstituteSouth Korea’s defense industry has gone from supplying its own military to arming others, and “K-defense” is now one of Seoul’s fastest-growing exports. Rob Rapson, a career U.S. diplomat who spent decades shaping the U.S.-South Korea relationship, joins Scott Snyder to trace how South Korean arms sales went global and their implications for the country’s relationship with Europe as it competes for, and supplies into, the region’s rearmament.
Rapson also walks through South Korea’s decades-deep footprint in the Middle East, from construction contracts to defense deals, and assesses the energy crisis impacting one of the world’s most energy-dependent advanced economies. The conversation also examines the Lee Jae Myung administration, its approach to Washington, and the surprising warmth of the South Korea-Japan relationship, as well as potential speed bumps Rapson sees ahead.
The episode also discusses security issues within the alliance, including North Korea, the wartime operational control conversation, the U.S.-South Korea 123 agreement, and South Korea’s bid for civilian nuclear participation.
[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]