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The South Korean Defense Ministry confirmed plans on Wednesday to increase its military budget by 331.4 trillion won ($261 billion) for a span of the next five years - bringing the annual expenditure up by an average of 6.8%.    

"In order to establish a powerful military force...We have prioritized the allocation of resources needed to improve our defenses," the defense ministry stated after it released a midterm draft budget for 2023-2027. The draft budget includes intentions to ramp up spending from 54.6 trillion won to 57.1 trillion next year and a whopping 76 trillion in 2027. However, the proposed budget is still dependent on parliamentary approval.    

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The country will base its military on a three-pronged defense system, consisting of the Kill Chain preemptive strike system, the Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) strategies.    

This comes a day after South Korean news agency News1 reported that five drones crossed the Korean military demarcation line and "violated" South Korean airspace. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff described the drones as being a maximum of two meters in size.

Just last week, Seoul announced some 20 military exercises to be conducted jointly with Washington in the first six months of 2023. The two countries will focus on the “crafting of realistic training scenarios in light of advancing North Korean nuclear and missile threats,” the Defense Ministry stated.

According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) earlier this month, the US announced that a possible deal to sell CH-47 Chinook helicopters and related equipment worth $1.5 billion to South Korea has been approved by the US.