President Lee Jae-myung’s plan to establish a presidential “control tower” for South Korea’s defense exports signals a shift toward centralized state coordination after recent procurement setbacks exposed institutional fragmentation and weak financial support.

This comes as Seoul courts multibillion-dollar arms deals with Poland and competes for a high-stakes Canadian submarine contract.

The initiative aims to improve the country’s competitiveness in major arms contracts by elevating oversight beyond the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), which experts say lacks the authority and scale to manage complex, government-to-government deals.

DEFENSE POLICY REALIGNMENT

At a cabinet meetingon July 8, Lee called for the