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Military power of Russia & South Korea

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Russia vs South Korea

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Russia South Korea

Russia is a country located in North Asia bordering the Arctic Ocean with an area of 17,098,242 km2 (land boundries: 22,407 km and costline 37,653 km). The capital of Russia is Moscow. The number of inhabitants is 146,171,015.

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine with an estimated 150 k troops. Russia is the leading member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The Russian Federation's military is equipped with domestically-produced weapons systems. Russia is the world's second largest exporter of military hardware and has the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.

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South Korea is a country located in Eastern Asia with an area of 100,210 km2 (land boundries: 237 km and costline 2,413 km). The capital of South Korea is Seoul. The number of inhabitants is 51,709,098.

US-South Korea Mutual Defense Treaty is a cornerstone of South Korea’s security. The Treaty gave the US permission to station land, air, and sea forces in the territory of South Korea. The USA maintained approximately 28,000 military personnel in the country. South Korea has been engaged with NATO through dialogue and security cooperation since 2005 and is considered by NATO to be a global partner. The South Korean military is equipped with a mix of domestically-produced and imported weapons systems. The top foreign weapons supplier is the United States and some domestically-produced systems are built under US license.

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If you want to check the comparison in terms of economic ratios check out CompareEconomy.com

Military expenditures

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Military budget: 65.9 billion $ 50.2 billion $
Percent of GDP: 4.1% 2.8%

Military budget

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Highest value in the world: 816 billion $ (USA)
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Manpower

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Active personnel: 1,000,000 555,000
Reserve personnel: 2,000,000 2,750,000
Available for military: 34,765,736 13,185,794

Active

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Highest value in the world: 2,035,000 (China)
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Land Forces

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Tanks: 12,267 2,606
Armoured fighting vehicles: 24,172 4,380
Total artillery: 18,266 7,468
Self-propelled artillery: 6,443 3,040
Rocket artillery: 4,331 574

Tanks

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Highest value in the world: 12,267 (Russia)
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Air Forces

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Total aircraft: 4,418 1,585
Fighter aircraft: 340 156
Multirole aircraft: 382 371
Attack aircraft: 689 0
Helicopters: 1,665 757
UCAV (combat drone): 100 0

Total aircraft

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Highest value in the world: 12,930 (USA)
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Navy

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Total naval: 653 195
Aircraftcarriers: 1 2
Destroyers: 14 12
Frigates: 11 18
Corvettes: 80 11
Submarines: 66 22

Total naval

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Highest value in the world: 967 (North Korea)
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Nuclear weapons

Russia

The second most important state when it comes to researching, developing, and then storing nuclear weapon. Although the Russians managed to catch up with Americans later on, it was only in 1949 that the first nuclear test conducted by then the Soviet Union occurred. It was still quite a surprise for the Western Powers, who believed that Russia won’t be capable of producing nuclear warheads until 1953-1954. After the first test, the nation in question started to rapidly increase the amount of warheads they possessed. In the end of 1980s, they were the leading power when it comes to total number of warheads stored. It was approximately 40,000 warheads.

Nowadays, similarly to United States, the Russians store a total number of 6490 warheads, what is scarcely more than USA. When it comes to the number of deployed warheads, the amount is the same as in case of Americans, namely 1600 deployed warheads. We should also remember about the fact that Russia conducted over 700 tests, what makes them the second most important nation when it comes to developing nuclear weapons. However, it was the Soviet Union that managed to create the biggest bomb in the world. Known as Tsar Bomba, it had blast yield of 50 megatons of TNT.

South Korea

Does not have nuclear weapons.

Military service

Russia

18-27 years of age for compulsory or voluntary military service; males are registered for the draft at 17 years of age; 1-year service obligation (conscripts can only be sent to combat zones after 6 months of training); reserve obligation for non-officers to age 50; enrollment in military schools from the age of 16, cadets classified as members of the armed forces.

South Korea

20-30 years of age for compulsory military service, with middle school education required; minimum conscript service obligation - 21 months (Army, Marines), 23 months (Navy), 24 months (Air Force); 18-26 years of age for voluntary military service; women, in service since 1950, admitted to 7 service branches, including infantry, but excluded from artillery, armor, anti-air, and chaplaincy corps; HIV-positive individuals are exempt from military service.