South Korea

South Korea gets a pretty raw deal. Like so many other countries that have been split into two or more pieces because of internal strife and conflict, the foundational problems are still there. They haven t gone away; they are now just across a border. Poor old South Korea only shares a border with one other country, and that delightful neighbour is you ve guessed it North Korea, with potentially the most powerful army in the world at their disposal. All of this means that South Korea has to take their military extremely seriously, and you have never seen serious until you have seen them. Becoming one of the strongest armies in the world is considered by many to be the only way to ensure that North Korea will not simply invade them again in the future. But no matter how much global firepower you have, you cannot kill an idea. However, North Korea is not South Korea s only problem. Japan and China, which would be neighbouring countries if not for the massive expanse of water, have continued to arm themselves more and more heavily, and that means that South Korea now spends more than thirty billion dollars a year on defence. That is a lot. And considering how small a country South Korea is, it is pretty surprising that they have the sixth largest air force in the world.