The South Korean defense industry in the post-Cold War era

South Korea, despite the persistence of Cold War hostilities on its border, has done relatively well in downsizing its defense industry while moving people and facilities into other civilian activities in the 1990s.This achievement is paradoxical, because South Korea’s procurement expenditures increased up through 1997, leading some to conclude that the country has been committed to enlarging and modernizing its military industrial complex (BICC, 1996).The paradox is explained by a growing insistence on the part of its security patron, the United States, that South Korea shoulder an increasing share of the military “burden” of readiness vis-à-vis North Korea.