Recently, military officials in the West raised their voices to warn of a noticeable shortage in the stockpile of weapons due to the generous support of Ukraine, while an Asian country took the initiative to mitigate the severity of this crisis, while making sure not to upset Moscow at the same time.
According to the New York Times, South Korea, an ally of the West, is seeking to fill the global arms shortage, after the war in Ukraine since February 2022 led to the showering of massive military equipment on Kiev.
The war brought about a global trend towards increasing the manufacture of weapons, starting with missiles and tanks, passing through artillery, and then ending with ammunition, but only a few countries moved to do so as quickly as South Korea did.
Last year, South Korea’s arms exports rose 140 percent to a record $17.3 billion, including $12.4 billion worth of tanks, howitzers, combat aircraft and missile launchers, to Poland, one of Ukraine’s closest allies. .
However, South Korea, which increased arms sales in general, refused to send combat weapons to Ukraine directly, but rather sought to fill the vacuum resulting from Ukraine’s assistance, and the resulting shortage in the stocks of Western countries.
Thus, South Korea was keen to avoid any direct role in arming Ukraine, and imposed very strict restrictions on exports, while it was a source of weapons that reached Kiev.
Seoul takes this position that is closest to balance regarding the crisis, in order to avoid provoking Moscow’s ire, because South Korea wants to maintain a margin of cooperation with Russia, in order to benefit from the Russian voice in imposing new sanctions on North Korea.
South Korea may have been able to maintain a high production of weapons, because it has been dealing with a constant state of alert in order to be ready for any possible confrontation with North Korea.
As for Washington’s allies in Europe, they have worked to reduce military production and the pace of armaments since the end of the Cold War, which has affected their readiness at the present time.
Huge shortage
Since the start of the war, arms exporting countries have been suffering from a shortage of missile launchers and other weapons, and countries like Germany and others are making great efforts to provide the required tanks.
In view of this situation, arms buyers in the world could not turn to other destinations in order to obtain what they wanted.
In Eastern Europe, many countries found themselves having to hastily replenish their stockpiles after sending Soviet weapons to Ukraine.
This dilemma is exacerbated further, while military experts estimate that reproducing what was depleted by the war in Ukraine may need years for some weapons, while major countries, such as Washington, need to be ready to engage in military confrontation at any moment, given the Imminent strategic challenges, as in the tension with China.