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Military power of South Korea & Taiwan

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South Korea vs Taiwan

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South Korea Taiwan

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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Taiwan is a country located in Eastern Asia with an area of 36,193 km2 (land boundries: 0 km and costline 1,566.3 km). The capital of Taiwan is Taipei. The number of inhabitants is 23,568,378.

The Taiwan military is armed mostly with second-hand weapons and equipment provided by the USA. Taiwan also has a domestic defense industry capable of building a range of military equipment.

More about Taiwan military

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

Military expenditures

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Military budget: 50.2 billion $ 19.3 billion $
Percent of GDP: 2.8% 2.3%

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: 555,000 290,000
Reserve personnel: 2,750,000 2,310,000
Available for military: 13,185,794 5,883,828

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: 2,606 1,160
Armoured fighting vehicles: 4,380 1,714
Total artillery: 7,468 1,944
Self-propelled artillery: 3,040 440
Rocket artillery: 574 126

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: 1,585 814
Fighter aircraft: 156 129
Multirole aircraft: 371 189
Attack aircraft: 0 0
Helicopters: 757 237
UCAV (combat drone): 0 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: 195 96
Aircraftcarriers: 2 0
Destroyers: 12 4
Frigates: 18 22
Corvettes: 11 1
Submarines: 22 4

Total naval

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

South Korea

Does not have nuclear weapons.

Taiwan

Does not have nuclear weapons.

Military service

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.

Taiwan

Males 18-36 years of age may volunteer for military service or must complete 4 months of compulsory military training (or substitute civil service in some cases); women may enlist; women in Air Force service are restricted to noncombat roles; for men born before December 1993, compulsory service (military or civil) is 1 year; for 8 years after discharge, men are subject to training recall four times for periods not to exceed 20 days.