President Lee: ”Is it impossible to defend ourselves without foreign troops?” ... ”That's submissive thinking” - South Korea

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung emphasized on the 21st, "It is true that the population problem is serious and military resources are insufficient, but there is no need to worry about our national defense capabilities just by looking at the absolute number of standing troops."
On the same day, President Lee stated through Fei Book that he was concerned about media reports that fear a decline in military strength due to a declining population, saying, "The idea that 'self-reliant national defense is impossible without foreign troops' is unacceptable."
President Lee wrote, "50 people equipped with AI combat robots, drones, and ultra-precise attack and defense missile systems can defeat an enemy force of thousands or tens of thousands, let alone 100.
"The Korean military is not a military of the past that relied on the number of conscripts and used a human wave tactical method, but a capable, specialized, smart, elite, and powerful army armed with a complex system of human and non-human forces.
He continued, "Our military has fewer regular troops than North Korea, but we have 2.6 million reserve troops who have completed their military service but can be immediately deployed to combat."
Its annual defense expenditure is about 1.4 times North Korea's gross national product, making it the fifth-largest military power in the world, and its economic power is several dozen times that of North Korea, with a population more than twice its size.
He also said, "The important thing is the submissive attitude of some who say, 'Even if we have this military power, national defense capability, and national strength, we cannot defend ourselves independently without the military of other countries.'
It's a thought," he pointed out.