A soldier fires a machine gun during training at Montana Range near Paju, South Korea, Nov. 4, 2025. (Seok Hoon Yoon/South Korean army)
South Korea will raise defense spending by 7.5% next year to $44.8 billion, with $13.6 billion dedicated to strengthening its forces, the Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday.
The increase is part of a nearly $500 billion national budget passed Tuesday after rival parties reached a deal, the Finance Ministry said in a separate statement.
The move follows U.S. pressure on allies, including South Korea, to spend more on defense amid heightened threats from China, Russia and North Korea.
The Ministry of National Defense said the expanded budget will help Seoul respond to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, adjust to a shifting global security landscape and invest in science and technology. Though lower than the 8.2% hike requested by military officials, the increase is South Korea’s largest since an 8.2% jump in 2019.
Part of the funding will support preparations for transferring wartime operational control, or OPCON, from the U.S. military to South Korea. The United States has retained wartime command of South Korean forces since the 1950-53 Korean War. Seoul’s transition depends on meeting a set of agreed-upon military capabilities that have not been publicly disclosed.
The Combined Forces Command at Camp Humphreys, about 40 miles south of Seoul, directs South Korean forces during wartime. The command is led by an American four-star general with a South Korean deputy.
A joint fact sheet released after President Donald Trump met South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Oct. 29 in Gyeongju said the two leaders “committed to continue alliance cooperation toward the transition of wartime operational control.”
South Korea plans to raise defense spending to 3.6% of gross domestic product “as soon as possible,” a move Trump welcomed, according to the defense ministry. The country spent 2.32% of GDP on defense in 2025.
The fact sheet also notes South Korea’s pledges to spend $25 billion on U.S. weapons by 2030 and provide $33 billion in support for U.S. Forces Korea.
The new defense budget will also fund quality-of-life improvements for troops and invest in technologies such as artificial intelligence and drones, the ministry said. Nearly $4 billion will go to research and development, a 19.4% increase from this year.
Spending on South Korea’s three-axis deterrence system aimed at countering the North will rise 21.3% to nearly $6 billion. The system consists of preemptive strike capabilities, integrated missile defense and retaliatory precision fires.
The first pillar involves the ability to hit North Korean launch sites when an attack appears imminent.
“This is a rather debatable pillar because it is preemptive strike even before [North Korea] launches missiles,” Kim Hyun Wook, an American studies professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, said by email Thursday.
The second pillar centers on missile defense systems integrated with U.S. platforms such THAAD, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, Kim said. The third involves the capability to respond to an attack with powerful conventional missiles.
