South Korea to Spend 80% of Military Budget on Purchase of National Weapons, Reports Suggest

TOKYO (Sputnik) - Defence Minister Suh Wook promised that more than 80% of South Korea's military budget, which is estimated at $90 billion, would be spent by the armed forces in the next five years on locally made weapons and equipment, as South Korea pursues an import substitution policy, local media reported on Wednesday.

"We will actively push for policies to nurture the defence industry and beef up tech cooperation between the private sector and the military for development of eight core defence strategic technologies, including the intelligent command and control system", the minister said, as cited by the Yonhap news agency.

The minister spoke at the three day defence expo, DX Korea 2020 - that specialises in exhibition of land forces equipment - which was held in Goyang, a city in Gyeonggi Province in the north of South Korea, the Yonhap news agency reported.

More than 200 companies from 11 countries took part in the DX Korea 2020 expo.

In August, the government announced a defence budget for 2021- 2025 worth 300 trillion won ( $272 Bln), with a third of the total allocated for strengthening defence capabilities.