Structural conditions and strategic implications of South Korea–Sweden defence industrial cooperation

Sammanfattning

The international security environment has undergone significant transformationfollowing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, resulting in accelerated military build-ups inEurope and a restructuring of global defence-industrial cooperation. In this context,South Korea and Sweden, as technologically advanced middle powers, face growingincentives to strengthen their defence industries and expand internationalcooperation. Despite increasing political engagement, however, systematic analysesof the structural conditions underpinning defence-industrial cooperation betweenthe two countries remain limited.The purpose of this study is to compare the defence-industrial structures of SouthKorea and Sweden and to analyze the strategic implications of bilateral cooperation.The study employs Michael Porter’s Diamond Model as the primary analyticalframework, complemented by SWOT and TOWS analyses to identify strengths,weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and to formulate strategic cooperationoptions.The findings indicate that South Korea and Sweden possess complementarystrengths: South Korea benefits from large-scale production capacity, costcompetitiveness, and strong government-led export support, while Sweden holds acompetitive advantage in high-end technological niches such as aerospace, sensors,submarines and systems integration. At the same time, constraints related to exportcontrols, industrial scale, and geopolitical considerations are identified. The studyconcludes that a gradual and institutionally anchored cooperation strategy canenhance industrial competitiveness and strategic autonomy for both countries,provided that political and regulatory risks are carefully managed.