hankyoreh

Nareman, who hails from Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, speaks to the Hankyoreh 21 after participating in the 61st Day of Action for Palestine calling for an end to the war on Gaza hosted by the group People in Solidarity with Palestine. (Kim Myoung-jin/Hankyoreh) 

Nareman, a young Palestinian woman studying in Korea, says she pours over the world news each night. 

“One time, a rocket had fallen near my house,” she told Hankyoreh 21. “I send my family a message at 5 o’clock each morning. Sometimes they answer, sometimes my message is left on read. But that’s OK. It means they’re alive.” 

“In my heart, I want to go straight back to my family. But my aunt tells me, ‘Don’t be stupid. At least one of us has to live. If we all die, you have to survive and tell our story.’ Whenever I hear such things, I get scared and anxious,” she shared. 

Nareman calls the occupied West Bank territories of Palestine home. She’s a fan of actress Park Shin-hye. She’s also interested in Korean history. In Korea’s history of colonization by Japan, she sees echoes of her homeland. 

“I wanted to look to Korea as a role model, because it was a colony that escaped colonial rule,” she said. In August 2023, when she was selected by the South Korean government to study in Korea on a scholarship, she was ecstatic. But after she arrived in Korea, the war in Gaza broke out. 

South Korea has exported over US$5.99 million in arms to Israel

Mariam, who is from the Gaza Strip, also studies in South Korea. In university, she majored in mechanical and automotive engineering. She wanted to study in South Korea, home to manufacturing corporations like the Hyundai Motor Company. For her, too, the war changed everything. Her family back home became refugees. Mariam lives each day in fear that she will lose them.

“Every day I contact my family, who are living in a tent. I ask them if anything’s new, if they’re healthy, if they’re alive. If I don’t get an answer for a few hours, it’s unbearable. Those times are so painful,” she told Hankyoreh 21. 

The war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023. Now, more than 420 days later, over 40,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza, and over 10,000 have been injured. The whole world, not just Nareman and Mariam, has denounced Israel’s attacks. Yet few people know that Korean weapons are being used to carry out these brutal assaults.

Hankyoreh 21’s exclusive investigation has revealed that South Korean weapon exports to Israel in 2024 amounted to at least 8 billion won, or around US$5.99 million. Countries like Italy and Canada have denounced Israel’s war and announced official policies of suspending weapons exports, but South Korea has refused to forfeit its war profiteering disguised as “exports.” 

An Israeli soldier hops off a tank near the border with Gaza in southern Israel on July 21, 2024. (AP/Yonhap)

Firearms and ammunition for the war?

Let’s take a closer look. From January to August 2024, the value of weapons South Korea sold to Israel totaled US$5,999,942. This figure was recently secretly obtained by the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy’s Center for Peace and Disarmament. In 2023, South Korean weapons exports to Israel amounted to US$16.2 million. 

As of now, it is unclear exactly what types of weapons Korea has sold to Israel. However, it is likely that firearms and ammunition that appear in previous reports, as well as their parts and components (Customs Code HS93), comprise a significant portion of the exports. This category includes firearms, explosives, guns, mines, ammunition, shells, swords, spears and missiles — weapons that are typically used for ground operations. 

Every single one of these weapons is directly tied to the crisis in Gaza. 

“My cousin’s husband was shot while trying to buy bread, and completely lost his right hand. Mariam’s 17-year-old cousin was also shot and killed. Just one gun, one bullet? That one bullet kills and injures and ruins families,” Nareman said. 

Even after Israel began indiscriminately attacking civilians after the Gaza war broke out in October 2023, South Korea did not stop selling weapons to Israel. Public data indicates that South Korea exported US$1.28 million in weapons to Israel during the seven months after the war started (October 2023 to April 2024). That’s an average of US$180,000 per month. However, figures obtained by People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy point to over US$5.99 million in total weapons exports, which would amount to a monthly average of US$749,000. That’s around four times greater than what was previously known. 

Korea’s exports of tanks and armored vehicles (HS 8710) to Israel also saw an explosive increase starting in 2023. According to figures provided by the Korea International Trade Association, such exports amounted to US$10,000 in 2022, but shot up to US$832,000 in 2023 — an 80-fold increase. Exports from January to October 2024 account for an additional US$11,000. South Korea exported nearly no tanks or armored vehicles until 2020, but such exports increased drastically following Israel’s invasion of Gaza. 

“The international community is telling the governments of countries to stop arming Israel, but South Korea continues to waffle,” said Lee Young-ah, the head of the Center for Peace and Disarmament. “Whether the scale is large or small, continuing to arm Israel is in itself legitimizing the slaughter of Palestinians.” 

Regarding the statistics acquired by People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the Korea Customs Service told the Hankyoreh 21 that as figures regarding weapons shipments to specific countries “by principle remain undisclosed,” they “could not confirm” the figures.

UK, France and Germany suspend weapons sales to Israel

Of course, South Korean weapons only account for a portion of the weapons used in Israel’s invasion of Gaza. Among the weapons used by Israel, 69% are supplied by the US and 30% are supplied by Germany, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Around 1% come from Italy, the UK, Canada, the Netherlands and South Korea. For instance, the UK and the Netherlands provide components for Israel’s F-35 fighter jets. 

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It was these countries in the 1% that began to contentiously object to Israel’s actions at a state level following the eruption of the war in Gaza. Three months into the war, in January 2024, Italy and Spain became the first countries to declare that they would stop selling weapons to Israel. In February, a Dutch court issued an order to block the export of F-35 parts to Israel. In March, the Canadian government cut off its ammunition supplies to Israel and even discontinued US ammunition contracts to prevent indirect shipments. In September, the British and German governments announced measures to suspend nearly all weapons sales to Israel. 

In June 2024, France banned Israeli companies from participating in a national weapons expo following Israel’s air offensive on Rafah. The courts had stated their position, but French President Emmanuel Macron called on the international community to “stop supplying weapons to lead the fighting in Gaza.”

Despite the official statements issued by these countries, there are reports of shipments of certain weapons to Israel continuing in secret. Yet there is no comparison to South Korea, which refuses to take a stance on Israel’s actions as it quietly continues to sell weapons to Tel Aviv.

Civic society played a larger role in these countries’ declarations of suspending arms sales to Israel. “Back home, many people are discussing the way on a daily basis, and thousands of people are partaking in Palestinian solidarity rallies. The government simply couldn’t ignore the public sentiment,” said Yoma, a Dutch student who partook in a Day of Action for Palestine rally in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square on Nov. 23. Students on campuses across Europe have faced police crackdowns while protesting Israel’s war on Gaza. 

By Shin Da-eun, staff reporter

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