(MENAFN) The defense minister of South Korea said his ministry has increased its defense budget for next year by 4 percent as it moves to beef up missile defense capabilities amid growing threats from North Korea.
In detail, the government has allocated a total of USD36.5 billion to bolstering the country's defensive capabilities in 2017, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.
"To counter the North's asymmetrical threats coming from its weapons of mass destruction, the country badly needs to build a Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) system and 'kill chain' to detect, identify and intercept incoming missiles in the shortest possible time," a ministry official said.
Of the total budget, 12.159 trillion won will be spent to improve the country's existing aircraft and anti-missile capabilities and the remaining 28.176 trillion won will be injected as operating costs for troops and armaments.
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