Candidates turn to booming defense industry for campaign pledges

Korea’s gubernatorial candidates in South Gyeongsang Province are positioning the booming aerospace and defense industries at the center of their economic campaign pledges, vowing to transform the region into a global hub for advanced defense, shipbuilding and aerospace technologies. Both ruling and opposition candidates have unveiled their plans to strengthen the province’s industrial ecosystem with the focus on research, so the region can create value-added jobs tied to artificial intelligence (AI), next-generation defense systems and future mobility industries. Kim Kyung-soo, the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) candidate for South Gyeongsang governor, said he would support President Lee Jae Myung’s vision of combining defense, shipbuilding, nuclear energy and AI technologies to develop nuclear-powered submarines. Kim said the initiative presents a major opportunity for South Gyeongsang Province, which already serves as the nation’s primary production base for defense manufacturing and shipbuilding. “The province accounts for more than half of the country’s defense industry