[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] South Korea's Military Power Surpasses Japan's

by Yang Nakgyu

Published 19 Jan.2024 09:23(KST)

Updated 23 Feb.2024 10:18(KST)

Global Firepower Analysis: North Korea's Military Strength Ranks 36th

A report has revealed that South Korea's military strength ranks fifth in the world. In contrast, North Korea's military strength was ranked 36th.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the '2024 Global Firepower' report recently released by the U.S. military power assessment organization Global Firepower (GFP) on the 19th, South Korea received a military power evaluation index score of 0.1416, ranking 5th among 145 countries surveyed. This is one step higher than last year's ranking (6th). South Korea's GFP military power ranking has steadily risen from 9th in 2013 and 7th in 2014, maintaining 6th place from 2020 through last year.

North Korea's military strength dropped from 34th last year to 36th (evaluation index 0.5313). North Korea was ranked 18th in 2019 but has been declining since then. The GFP military power evaluation index indicates stronger military power the closer the score is to 0, calculated using over 60 individual indicators including troop numbers, weaponry, economic power, wartime mobilizable personnel, and defense budget.

In the national defense budget category, South Korea ranked 11th, while North Korea was 58th. The country ranked first in military power was the United States (0.0699), followed by Russia (0.0702), China (0.0706), and India (0.1023). The 6th and 7th places were the United Kingdom (0.1443) and Japan (0.1601), respectively.