Asia Pacific

South Korea will hold the largest defense show to boost global sales.

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This week, South Korea will open its biggest defense expo as it looks to increase its arms sales and feature a rare appearance of a U.S. nuclear-capable aircraft.

On Tuesday, the biennial Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX) will open its doors. According to the organizers, there will be more firms than ever present at the event and an unprecedented flyby by a U.S. B-52 bomber, which will also make a rare landing at an airbase somewhere else on the Korean peninsula.

According to Lee Jong-ho, head of the organizing office, this year’s exhibition is intended to assist South Korea in achieving its objective of being the fourth-largest exporter of armaments in the world.

He added that hundreds of thousands of additional professionals and members of the public are also anticipated to attend, along with over 450 top defense officials from 54 other nations.

“This is an opportunity for Korea’s defence industry to draw international attention and take a giant leap forward,” said Lee.

After signing a record $17.3 billion worth of arms agreements with Poland last year, including sizable ones for tanks, howitzers, airplanes, and rockets, the Korean government has set a target of $20 billion in defense exports this year.

In recent years, South Korea’s defense exports have ranked at around tenth in the world, although President Yoon Suk Yeol has urged an increase.

On Monday, exhibitors worked on last-minute preparations at a South Korean military airfield south of Seoul. At the same time, attendees of earlier events roamed among South Korean and American military equipment and airplanes parked on the tarmac, including cutting-edge American stealth F-22 and F-35 aircraft.

The performance will include a larger-than-usual demonstration of American military might, including the B-52 flight, to honor the 70th anniversary of South Korea and the United States’ alliance, according to U.S. Air Force Colonel Charles Cameron.

Under Yoon, South Korea and the U.S. have increased their military might shows, especially about U.S. nuclear-capable weaponry, to discourage North Korea.

Thousands of soldiers, South Korean tanks, and self-propelled artillery participated in an unusual military display last month in which 300 of the 28,500 American personnel stationed there were also present.

The armaments trade, which they described as a “parasite” that profits off misery in countries like Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will reportedly be the subject of a demonstration, according to a South Korean activist organization.

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