The government on Monday unveiled a new planning body for the country’s growing defense industry to boost exports of military equipment and speed up the regulatory process.

South Korea’s defense and economy ministries joined forces to craft the Defense Industry Development Council, which originated from an export promotion organization previously supervised by Cheong Wa Dae.

The institution comes as part of a comprehensive package mapped out by the presidential office in October to grab a bigger slice of the increasingly competitive global market. The scheme envisages a paradigm shift in research and development, an export-oriented industrialization of the sector, and greater use of private funds.

“The council is one of the action plans that ministries have been pushing forward to advance the country’s military industry,” the two ministries said in a joint statement. “It will serve as a control tower by propping up defense contractors, devising export strategies for equipment and technology, and orchestrating offset trades.”

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung will co-chair the council, the statement said, and other members consist of government officials and experts from public and private thinks tanks, as well as trade agencies.

South Korea is the world’s second-largest arms importer along with China, each making up about 6 percent of the world market between, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. India stood atop with around 9 percent.

U.S. federal data showed the Korean government brought in more than $6.5 billion worth of military gears between 2005 and 2009 from the United States alone, which is estimated at nearly 70 percent of total supplies.

But since exports remained feeble compared with imports, the government has for years been striving to improve related technology to localize equipment and expand exports.

One of the landmark deals was a $400 million contract in June between Korea Aerospace Industries and Indonesia for 16 units of T-50, the country’s first supersonic trainer jet.

The government is aiming to become one of the world’s top seven defense leaders by scaling up export volume to $1.6 billion this year and to $4 billion by 2020.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)