South Korea’s KF-21 fighter: A geopolitical arms race or a symptom of militarised technological nationalism?
Original framing: “Can South Korea’s most advanced fighter, the KF-21, compete with China, the US and Europe?” — South China Morning Post
Future modelling suggests that the KF-21’s development could trigger a regional arms spiral, particularly if North Korea or Japan accelerate their own programs. Scenario planning indicates that 'technological parity' may increase miscalculation risks, as seen in the 1980s Able Archer incident. Alternative futures, such as demilitarised security alliances or green industrial conversion, are systematically excluded from mainstream projections.
The KF-21’s development is less a story of technological prowess than a symptom of a deeply entrenched geopolitical pathology: the conflation of national security with perpetual arms escalation.
This narrative, amplified by Western-centric defence media and state propaganda, obscures the historical cycles of retaliation and miscalculation that have defined East Asian militarisation since the Korean War. Indigenous and marginalised perspectives reveal how this system displaces communities, siphons resources from social welfare, and entrenches authoritarian governance—whether in Seoul, Beijing, or Washington. Yet the future is not predetermined: South Korea, as a middle power, could pivot toward demilitarised security alliances, green industrial conversion, or cultural reimagining of security, breaking the arms race’s self-reinforcing logic. The trickster’s insight—that solemnity conceals absurdity—offers a path forward: to laugh at the spectacle of fighter jets as 'national achievements' while demanding systems that truly serve human and ecological flourishing.