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South Korean Army Spent More Than 3 Trillion Won Maintaining Old Weapons
South Korea’s Army spent about 3.08 trillion won maintaining ageing equipment from 2021 to 2025.
The spending covered 15 types of weapons and vehicles whose service lives had ended.
Nearly 8,270 pieces of equipment across 19 major systems are past their service lives, or more than 25 years old where no limit is set.
They include more than 600 K9 self-propelled howitzers past their 25-year limit and about 1,900 K200 armoured vehicles past their 10-year limit.
The Army says it uses depot and field maintenance to keep the equipment working and extend its life.
A lawmaker says continued spending on old weapons risks wasting money and could leave the Army behind changing warfare and other military branches.
The lawmaker called for retiring equipment that is no longer needed and replacing it with newer systems, while retaining items that may be needed for future arms-reduction talks with North Korea.
The South Korean Army spent about 3.0781 trillion won maintaining 15 types of equipment past their service life from 2021 through 2025.
The figures were provided by Army headquarters to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kang Sun-young.
Nearly 8,270 pieces of Army equipment were beyond their service life, or had been in service for at least 25 years where no service life was set.
The Army said maintenance helps ensure the equipment performs properly and remains usable for operations.
Kang said retaining old weapons wastes maintenance funds and urged the Army to consider retiring and replacing equipment.
- Who
- The South Korean Army. The figures were obtained by lawmaker Kang Sun-young’s office.
- What
- The Army spent about 3.0781 trillion won maintaining 15 types of equipment past their service life over five years.
- When
- From 2021 through 2025. The report was published on October 18, 2026.
- Where
- South Korea.
- Why
- The Army said maintenance keeps equipment operational and extends its service life. Kang said old weapons should be retired and replaced with modern equipment.
South Korean Army
Kang Sun-young
Aspect
South Korean Army
The Army said depot and field maintenance ensure equipment performance and allow it to remain in operational use.
Kang Sun-young
Kang said maintaining old weapons wastes funds and leaves the Army behind changes in warfare.
Aspect
South Korean Army
The Army said it manages equipment past its service life so there is no disruption to operations.
Kang Sun-young
Kang called for equipment that is not needed for potential arms-reduction negotiations to be retired and replaced with modern forces.
The Army spent about 3.0781 trillion won maintaining 15 types of equipment past their service life.
Yonhap reported the figures obtained by Kang Sun-young’s office from Army headquarters.
- Total maintenance spending
- About 3.0781 trillion won from 2021 through 2025
- Equipment types assessed
- 15
- Equipment beyond service life
- Nearly 8,270 pieces across 19 major Army weapon systems
- K9 self-propelled howitzers
- More than 600 past their 25-year service life; about 600 billion won in five-year maintenance spending
- K200-series armored vehicles
- More than 1,900 past their 10-year service life; about 233 billion won in five-year maintenance spending
- CH-47 helicopters
- About 30 in service after 34–38 years; about 463 billion won in five-year maintenance spending
1 source
What people are saying
We manage equipment past its service life through depot and field maintenance to ensure its performance and extend its life so that there are no problems with its operational use.
The Army's weapons management problem, maintained through 70 years of inertia, is not only a waste of maintenance budgets but also fails to keep pace with changes in the nature of warfare.
The difference in generations from the other services may ultimately act as a factor hindering the strengthening of jointness.
It is necessary to consider boldly retiring the remaining equipment and replacing it with modernized forces.