Gov't moves to widen export paths for Gumi defense firms with tailored support

The government is stepping up field-tailored support for defense companies in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, covering everything from finding new overseas clients to trade insurance and logistics, as it works to help them break into foreign markets.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance's Export Plus Support Team held a roundtable Wednesday at the Gumi Electronics and IT Institute, bringing together export support agencies including the Defense Technology Promotion Research Institute, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-SURE), Korea SMEs and Startups Agency and the Korea Defense Industry Association.

The meeting was organized to hear the export challenges facing companies in the North Gyeongsang-Gumi Defense Innovation Cluster — a hub being developed by combining the region's ICT and electronics industry base with defense technology — amid growing global interest in South Korean defense products.

Participants included officials from the government and Gumi city, representatives of the export support agencies, and local defense firms: Samyang Comtech, VNS, Jungsu Tech, Ninano Company, Junghwa Engineering and RFon.

Companies flagged difficulty finding new overseas clients as a key challenge, noting that the long project timelines typical of defense contracts leave them significantly exposed to payment risk. They also asked for government help managing the burden of rising logistics costs.

The government and export support agencies agreed to make active use of defense-specific programs, including support for participation in overseas defense exhibitions and trade missions, as well as defense export mentoring.

Buyer identification and business-matching services for overseas marketing will also be provided. Officials briefed the companies on trade insurance programs designed to reduce payment risk in long-running defense projects, as well as export logistics support programs.

Bae Jeong-hun, deputy head of the Export Plus Support Team, said the defense industry is "a strategic sector that underpins national security while at the same time driving growth across upstream and downstream industries alongside exports." He added that the government and export support agencies would "continue to identify on-the-ground challenges so that companies with excellent regional technology can actively enter the global defense market, and strengthen tailored support as a public-private joint one team."