Asia > Korea, South > Military

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Air force personnel	52,000		[10th of 49]
Armed forces growth	14		[56th of 132]
DEFINITION: Growth in the number of armed forces personnel from 1985 (index = 100) to 2000. 100 means no growth, 50 means it halved and 200 means it doubled.
SOURCE: Energy Information Administration, US Department of Energy
Armed forces personnel	683,000		[5th of 166]
DEFINITION: Total armed forces (2000)
SOURCE: calculated on the basis of data on armed forces from IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies). 2001. The Military Balance 2001-2002. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Army personnel	548,000		[3rd of 49]
SOURCE: IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies). 2001. The Military Balance 2001-2002. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Branches Republic of Korea Army, Navy (includes Marine Corps), Air Force
DEFINITION: The names of the ground, naval, air, marine, and other defense or security forces
SOURCE: Energy Information Administration, US Department of Energy
Conscription Conscription exists (AI).
DEFINITION: A description of the status of conscription in the nation in 1997.
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Conventional arms exports	$50,000,000.00		[23rd of 40]
DEFINITION: Conventional arms transfers (1990 prices) - Exports (US$ millions) Refers to the voluntary transfer by the supplier (and thus excludes captured weapons and weapons obtained through defectors) of weapons with a military purpose destined for the armed forces, paramilitary forces or intelligence agencies of another country. These include major conventional weapons or systems in six categories: ships, aircraft, missiles, artillery, armoured vehicles and guidance and radar systems (excluded are trucks, services, ammunition, small arms, support items, components and component technology and towed or naval artillery under 100-millimetre calibre).
SOURCE: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland, 1997. Data collected from the nations concerned, unless otherwise indicated. Acronyms: Amnesty International (AI); European Council of Conscripts Organizations (ECCO); Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC); International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHFHR); National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors (NISBCO); Service, Peace and Justice in Latin America (SERPAJ); War Resisters International (WRI); World Council of Churches (WCC)
Conventional arms imports	$737,000,000.00		[6th of 85]
DEFINITION: Conventional arms transfers (1990 prices) - Imports (US$ millions) Refers to the voluntary transfer by the supplier (and thus excludes captured weapons and weapons obtained through defectors) of weapons with a military purpose destined for the armed forces, paramilitary forces or intelligence agencies of another country. These include major conventional weapons or systems in six categories: ships, aircraft, missiles, artillery, armoured vehicles and guidance and radar systems (excluded are trucks, services, ammunition, small arms, support items, components and component technology and towed or naval artillery under 100-millimetre calibre).
SOURCE: SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). 2005. SIPRI Arms Transfers. Database. February. Stockholm.
expenditure > % of GDP	2.58 %		[27th of 145]
DEFINITION: Military expenditures data from SIPRI are derived from the NATO definition, which includes all current and capital expenditures on the armed forces, including peacekeeping forces; defense ministries and other government agencies engaged in defense projects; paramilitary forces, if these are judged to be trained and equipped for military operations; and military space activities. Such expenditures include military and civil personnel, including retirement pensions of military personnel and social services for personnel; operation and maintenance; procurement; military research and development; and military aid (in the military expenditures of the donor country). Excluded are civil defense and current expenditures for previous military activities, such as for veterans' benefits, demobilization, conversion, and destruction of weapons. This definition cannot be applied for all countries, however, since that would require much more detailed information than is available about what is included in military budgets and off-budget military expenditure items. (For example, military budgets might or might not cover civil defense, reserves and auxiliary forces, police and paramilitary forces, dual-purpose forces such as military and civilian police, military grants in kind, pensions for military personnel, and social security contributions paid by one part of government to another.)		View time series
SOURCE: SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). 2005. SIPRI Arms Transfers. Database. February. Stockholm.
Expenditures > Dollar figure	$14,522,000,000.00		[7th of 111]
DEFINITION: Current military expenditures in US dollars; the figure is calculated by multiplying the estimated defense spending in percentage terms by the gross domestic product (GDP) calculated on an exchange rate basis not purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. Dollar figures for military expenditures should be treated with caution because of different price patterns and accounting methods among nations, as well as wide variations in the strength of their currencies		View time series
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Gulf War Coalition Forces	200		[26th of 30]
DEFINITION: Number of troops who served on active duty in the Gulf War theater of operations between August 2, 1990, and June 13, 1991.
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Iraq coalition forces > Troop strength	3,200		[3rd of 10]
DEFINITION: Number of coalition forces in Iraq. Earliest confirmed date of troop strength is Georgia, as of September 10, 2005. Latest confirmed date of troop strength is Denmark, as of March 23, 2006. NOTE: There are no reliable estimates on number of other coalition forces in Iraq, by country. An additional 1,850 troops are from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and Ukraine. Fiji is participating as part of the UN mission in Iraq. U.S. troop strength includes active and reserve and are as of March 2006.
SOURCE: "Gulf War Veterans: Measuring Health" by Lyla M. Hernandez, Jane S. Durch, Dan G. Blazer II, and Isabel V. Hoverman, Editors; Committee on Measuring the Health of Gulf War Veterans, Institute of Medicine. Published by The National Academies Press 1999
Military Capabilities > Defense Budget	$21,050,000,000.00		[4th of 10]
SOURCE: US Department of Defense. The Brookings Institution Iraq Index, April 24, 2006.
Military Capabilities > Tanks	2,330		[8th of 10]
SOURCE: Wikipedia: Military Capabilities
Navy personnel	60,000		[6th of 49]
SOURCE: Wikipedia: Military Capabilities
personnel	693,000		[8th of 170]
DEFINITION: Armed forces personnel are active duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces if the training, organization, equipment, and control suggest they may be used to support or replace regular military forces.		View time series
SOURCE: Energy Information Administration, US Department of Energy
US deployment	2%
DEFINITION: The approximate share of US troops deployed to particular locations during peacetime. US figure includes 2% in Hawaii and 1% in Alaska.
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
US military exports	$1,016,010.00 thousand		[4th of 109]
DEFINITION: U.S. Military Exports, for the year 1998 (in thousands of US dollars)
SOURCE: Dr T.R. O'Connor, (05/15/04)
Weapon holdings	10,303,000		[8th of 137]
SOURCE: Study by David Lochhead and James Morrell; available from the Center for International Policy
WMD > Nuclear South Korea first became interested in nuclear technology in the 1950s but did not begin construction of its first power reactor until 1970. Changes in the international security environment influenced South Korea's decision to begin a nuclear weapons program in the early 1970s. Under significant pressure from the United States, Seoul abandoned the program and signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in April 1975 before producing any fissile material. In November 1991, President Roh Tae Woo declared that South Korea would not "manufacture, possess, store, deploy, or use nuclear weapons." Two months later, North and South Korea signed the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of The Korean Peninsula. However, both sides have failed to implement its provision for a bilateral inspection regime. South Korea is an executive board member of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) and is providing most of the financial support for the construction of two light water nuclear reactors in North Korea under the Agreed Framework. Seoul has 18 nuclear power reactors in use and two more under construction.
DEFINITION: A description of the nation's situation with regards to the possession and manufacture of nuclear weapons
SOURCE: Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC)

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