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Military power of South Korea & Ukraine

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South Korea vs Ukraine

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South Korea Ukraine

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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Ukraine is a country located in Eastern Europe with an area of 603,500 km2 (land boundries: 5,581 km and costline 2,782 km). The capital of Ukraine is Kiev. The number of inhabitants is 41,487,960.

During the 2008 Bucharest summit, NATO declared that Ukraine would eventually become a member of NATO when it meets the criteria for accession. In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian military is equipped mostly with older Russian and Soviet-era weapons systems. Ukraine has a broad defense industry capable of building Soviet-era land systems and maintaining and upgrading Soviet-era combat aircraft, as well as missile and air defense systems.

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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: 50.2 billion $ 10.4 billion $
Percent of GDP: 2.8% 6%

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: 555,000 700,000
Reserve personnel: 2,750,000 1,000,000
Available for military: 13,185,794 11,149,646

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 1,462
Armoured fighting vehicles: 4,380 5,739
Total artillery: 7,468 3,636
Self-propelled artillery: 3,040 899
Rocket artillery: 574 693

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: 1,585 297
Fighter aircraft: 156 57
Multirole aircraft: 371 0
Attack aircraft: 0 27
Helicopters: 757 115
UCAV (combat drone): 0 12

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 53
Aircraftcarriers: 2 0
Destroyers: 12 0
Frigates: 18 1
Corvettes: 11 0
Submarines: 22 0

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.

Ukraine

Although Ukraine has never produced its own nuclear weapon to this day, we should bear in mind that back in the days, Ukraine possessed approximately 5,000 nuclear weapons. This is all due to the fact that before 1991, Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union. However, as a consequence of its dissolution, all the countries that were satellites or were forcefully attached to Soviet Union, received number of warheads. They were once the property of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, after Ukraine became independent, they received everything that was the part of the USSR, even nuclear warheads. As a result of that, Ukraine became the third largest holder of nuclear weapons in the world.

Ukraine decided to get rid of these weapons quite quickly. Three years later, in 1994 that is, they joined Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In 1996, all the warheads were moved and disassembled in Russia.

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.

Ukraine

18-27 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation is 18 months