South Korea Launches Export Promotion Center for Defense

South Koreas’s arms procurement agency, Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) launched an institution, Defense Export Promotion Center (DEPC).

The DEPC will help Korea to advance into foreign markets and will provide defense firms with a comprehensive package of support, such as export-related administrative procedures and other services, DAPA said in a statement.

"The opening of this center signals that DAPA is making a shift towards the export sector from its mission focused on raising local defense firms," Wang Jung-hong, the DAPA chief was quoted by Korea Herald as saying on Monday.

As part of efforts to boost arms exports, Seoul is seeking to increase the number of countries that South Korea has a memorandum of understanding on defense industry cooperation to 50 by 2022 from the current 39, the report stated.

It also has a step-by-step plan to create a support system "to the level of advanced countries, such as Britain and Israel." The plan includes installing a defense industry promotion agency aimed at supporting the local development and production of defense component parts, small and medium-sized firms and venture startups.