Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

- This presents the future direction of defense policies, as well as the performance of defense policies over the past two years -

□ The Ministry of National Defense has published the ｢2020 Defense White Paper｣ to guarantee the people’s right to know and to enhance the national support for and transparency of the direction of defense policies by publicizing the defense policies of the past two years.

ㅇ The ｢2020 Defense White Paper｣ is the 24th edition since its first publication in 1967, and consists of a total of 8 chapters.
ㅇ It also includes detailed defense-related references in the form of a special appendix and general appendix to aid in an in-depth understanding and research on defense policies, as well as to help readers understand them.

ㅇ Multilingual abridged editions, including English, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian, are due to be published in the first half of 2021, in order to secure the international community’s trust in and support for our defense policies.

□ The main features of the 「2020 Defense White Paper」 are as follows:

ㅇ It is the current government’s second defense white paper, which presents the performance of defense policies over the past two years and the future direction of defense policies.

ㅇ It describes the main defense-related pending issues, including the performance of 「Defense Reform 2.0」 and 「Smart Defense Innovation」, the future direction of defense policies, the implementation status of the 「September 19 Military Agreement」, the performance in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the reformation of the military medical system.

ㅇ It also includes the details of changes in North Korea’s military command structure and military power, including new missiles unveiled in North Korea’s military parade held last year.