South Korea Expands Military Exports to Southeast Asia
- Dogeon Lim
- Sep 3
- 1 min read
Sep 3, 2025
Dogeon Lim
South Korea continues to expand its steps in regional security. Based on several news reports in mid august, South Korea Hanwha Aerospace has decided to export 20 K9 howitzers to Vietnam for $250 million. It is the first time to export the K9 to communist countries, thus Vietnam has become the 11th country in the world to implement the K9.
According to industry and government sources on August 14th, the K9 manufacturer “Hanwha” has signed the contract that exports K9, self-propelled artillery to Vietnam by the Government-to-Government (G2G) transaction. The Dense Acquisition Program Administration and Hanwha have not officially confirmed it, but the scale of export is expected to be 25 guns + α.
South Korea’s arms export capabilities had already been proven through groundbreaking deals with Poland and continuous military products demand in multiple markets. However, the K9 export with Vietnam is a first in Southeast Asia, indicating that the success penetrates new regional markets.
As a key principle, the K-Defense across administrations will be the factor of South Korea’s economic growth and national development; thus, there would be potentially significant subsequent developments.
