Defense Budget Hike

[Anchor Lead]

President Moon Jae-in has vowed to increase the national defense budget from the current 2.4 percent of GDP to 2.9 percent by the end of his tenure. The move is construed as a way to acquire wartime operational command early on and beef up the nation's deterrence capabilities against North Korea.

[Pkg]

President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday had a meeting over lunch with former and incumbent defense ministers and heads of Joint Chiefs of Staff. He told them that he would increase the national defense budget from the current 2.4 percent of GDP to 2.9 percent by the end of his tenure. He said that pursuing dialogue with Pyonyang without strong defense capabilities is meaningless. he president stressed that national defense is an issue of the country's independence and survival, and that national defense and security have become more critical amid ongoing provocations from the North. Under the president's goal, the national defense budget will be raised from the current 40.3 trillion won to 50 trillion won by 2020 and will surpass 58 trillion won by the end of Moon's term in office. The military plans to invest the increased budget into building anti-missile and anti-nuclear capabilities, and prepare for acquiring the wartime operational command from the United States early on.

[Soundbite] Shin Jong-woo(Korea Defense & Security Forum) : "We believe that this will enable us to bolster the Kill Chain and KAMD systems to respond to North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile capabilities."

President Moon urged the military to do its best to prevent loopholes in national security that may be caused by the power transition and personnel reshuffle.