Military Power.net

Japanvs South Korea

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, South Korea (#5) holds a narrow edge over Japan (#7).

  • Japan fields 2.9× as many destroyers.
  • South Korea fields 2.5× as many tanks.
  1. People and moneySouth Korea leads 3 of 4
  2. Land forcesSouth Korea leads 5 of 5
  3. Air powerSouth Korea leads 4 of 7
  4. Naval forcesEven, 3–3
  5. Nuclear weaponsEven, 0–0

Leads count raw numbers in each category. Larger is not always stronger: a modern fleet can beat a bigger, older one.

People and money

Who can be put in uniform, and how much is spent keeping them there.

$62.2B
Military spending
$47.8B
252K
Active personnel
450K
56K
Reserves
3.1M
25K
Paramilitary
120K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Japan: 1.4% of GDP; South Korea: 2.6% of GDP).

Land forces

Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.

734
Tanks
1,831
54K
Armored vehicles
117K
193
Self-propelled artillery
2,780
480
Towed artillery
5,800
99
Rocket artillery
525

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

1,429
Total aircraft
1,540
217
Fighters
242
47
Attack aircraft
98
583
Helicopters
827
118
Attack helicopters
113
10
Tankers
4
53
Transports
40

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

158
Total fleet
215
0
Aircraft carriers
0
4
Helicopter carriers
2
23
Submarines
22
41
Destroyers
14
8
Frigates
18
0
Corvettes
3

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

0
Warheads
0
0
Deployed warheads
0

Compare other countries

Related matchups

Profiles: Japan and South Korea. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.