Intensifying US-China Rivalry and Shifts in Korea's Military Weight

China is building up its nuclear forces in parallel and is expected to reach parity with the US within 10 years, and it has set a target of roughly 1,000 nuclear warheads.

China has set a target of roughly 1,000 nuclear warheads and is expected to reach nuclear parity with the US within 10 years.

The three decades without great-power war are assessed as a historically unusual span, and China and Russia have recently used the gap to expand their reach.

Public debt across advanced economies stands at 110% of GDP, and global debt is expected to exceed global GDP around 2029 to 2030.

Humanity has entered an unprecedented energy transition in which fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear compete at the same time, which deepens geopolitical rivalry.

These two major factors, rising debt and the energy transition, are driving global change and creating new geopolitical risks.

Past commanders relied on luck amid scarce information, but AI now processes vast amounts of data in an instant, making battlefield conditions clearer.

The fear that an opponent will judge and respond faster through AI heightens pressure to strike first, creating a sense on the battlefield that the moment must not be missed.

This speed of technological mobilization resembles how railway timetables shaped war decisions in World War I, and it decisively affects how modern warfare unfolds.

Some 70 trillion won and 30 trillion won are earmarked for drone attack capability and counter-drone defense respectively, with drone technology advances confirmed since the Ukraine war becoming a key driver of next year's budget increase.

Roughly 70 trillion won is allocated to bolstering drone attack capability and 30 trillion won to counter-drone defenses, focusing on strengthening drone forces.

Following the rapid advance of drone technology confirmed since the Ukraine war, the US continues to invest heavily in developing and defending against drones, the core of future warfare.

The US faces limits in shipbuilding capacity due to a shortage of skilled shipyard workers, whereas China mass-produces warships simultaneously at many shipyards.

China's shipbuilding capacity is estimated at 200 times that of the US, which builds only about one Aegis destroyer and half a nuclear submarine per year.

Military power depends not only on ideas but on the physical infrastructure to produce and deploy weapons cheaply and in volume, and on this point China is overtaking the US.

As the state collects data including audio from student test centers, US containment of China's AI and military technology advances is strengthening.

The state collects data without authorization through various means, including audio from student test sites, and uses it to advance AI and military technology.

In response, the US is focusing on securing leadership in AI data as a tool to contain China, intensifying the technology race.

It holds technological advantages in certain areas such as radio jamming and wire-guided drone operations, and it maintains the material base to sustain a war while possessing nuclear weapons.

Its AI capabilities have limits in some areas, but it received an A rating based on its overall military capability and combat experience.

Russia struggled tactically in the Ukraine war, yet the future-warfare experience it gained positively affected its military assessment.

India has a large number of troops, but it lacks the capacity to manufacture and produce the weapons to arm them, and it received a low rating for this.

Structural weaknesses in its manufacturing base have surfaced, including errors in implementing design specifications, raising doubts about compliance with technical requirements in defense contracts.

Training for combined attacks mixing ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, designed to add confusion for the enemy, has been observed, and it is judged that reentry technology and other capabilities remain unfinished despite its nuclear arsenal.

Through the war, Ukraine has gathered large volumes of up-to-date camouflage and tactical data, raising the value of real-time data essential to military AI development.

Active collaboration with US defense technology firms is advancing its AI know-how, which plays an important role in the development of military AI.

Drawing on the scientific and technological base inherited from the Soviet era, it has the potential to achieve dramatic growth in military technology during post-war reconstruction.

Rather than having people analyze large volumes of satellite and flight data, AI extracts patterns in an instant, strengthening Iran's military response capabilities.

This information is publicized and shared through social media, and it is used to support Iran's strategy for responding to US counterattacks.

Israel hacked Iran's CCTV network to identify the movements of senior officials and select strike points, and a security weakness of leaving administrator default passwords unchanged made such hacking possible.

Concerns are growing that data collected by Chinese electric-vehicle makers could be used as hacking tools and that they could photograph sensitive facilities not on any map, threatening national security.

Hyundai Motor has expanded its dedicated information-security staff to several hundred to strengthen the security of connected cars, aiming to solidify consumer trust.

In major countries including Europe, national-level information-security measures are being taken, such as restricting access by Chinese-made cars to sensitive facilities.

Even allies carry a standing risk of information leaks, which increases the need to directly control and manage sensitive personal data within the country.

Sovereignty over information will become a major issue for future society, and storing, retaining and managing data domestically is emerging as a core element of national security.

Securing data sovereignty is emphasized as essential to maintaining national independence and competitiveness in a rapidly changing security environment.