South Korea's defense budget ranks the world's ninth: report

Soldiers in the South Korean Navy's Cheonghae unit take part in a training exercise off the coast of Geoje Island in South Gyeongsang Province on Dec. 13, 2019. Yonhap

South Korea ranked 9th in the world in terms of its defense spending budget for 2020, far ahead of North Korea, according to an annual U.S. defense report.

South Korea allocated US$44 billion to defense spending this year, according to the Defense Spending by Country (2020) report by Global Firepower, which tracked the annual defense spending budgets of 138 countries.

The report also said that North Korea set aside $1.6 billion for this year's national defense, putting the ranking of the communist state at 74th.

The United States topped the list, followed by China, Saudi Arabia and India.

The index is based on "funds officially allotted by respective governments to maintain and strengthen a standing fighting force." The report said that estimates were made when official data was not available. (Yonhap)

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