CONFLICTIQ
HEAD TO HEAD

South Korea vs United States

South Korea
9%
RAI
United States
91%

Verdict

United States holds a 91–9 advantage over South Korea on the Relative Advantage Index, a decisive margin.

The margin is driven by military spending (95% of the combined total, $954bn) and economic size (GDP) (94% of the combined total, $28.8tn).

1 factor — nuclear warheads — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side. Those factors are excluded and the remaining weights renormalised, never substituted.

Factor by factor

FactorSouth KoreaShareUnited StatesWeight
Military spending
SIPRI Milex
$47.8bn
5%95%
$954bn33%
Economic size (GDP)
World Bank WDI
$1.9tn
6%94%
$28.8tn27%
Active personnel
COW NMC
555.0k
29%71%
1.4m20%
Logistics & power projection
OurAirports
38
2%98%
1.6k20%

Shares are each side's portion of the combined total for that factor. Weights are renormalised across the factors both sides publish — see the methodology. Data read 2026-08-04.

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