Global arms race underway as nations scramble to modernize militaries
Australia, Japan, Vietnam beef up military spending, while Southeast Asian countries, driven by budget constraints, rely on balancing act to counter China By Kang Hyun-kyungNorth Korea, China and Russia are the dangerous trio that has sent countries worldwide scrambling to equip themselves with both conventional and state-of-the-art weapons to counter the risks they pose.According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the global military budget hit an all-time high of $2.24 trillion in total in 2022, up 3.7 percent from the previous year.The U.S. took the lion's share with nearly 40 percent of total defense budget spending, followed by China and Russia. South Korea came ninth with $46.4 billion, slightly ahead of Japan, which spent $46 billion.“We have North Korea here whose threat continues to grow year after year,” Kim Min-seok, a former spokesman at the Ministry of National Defense and vice president of Korea Aerospace Industries Association in Seoul, told The Korea Times. He said China's ambitious maritime strategy is another ominous sign th
Aug 1, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung
