Fieldnotes from Seoul ADEX 2023 /S.M. Downer

ADEX: A Weapons Convention for Everyone

As I step off the bus, my ears swell with the thunderous soar of bomber jets overhead. A hoard of men in suits and well-shined shoes walks ahead of me, beelining for the gates of Seoul Airport, hoping to beat the line to enter. Bearing badges that announce their arms industry affiliations, they shake hands, slap shoulders, and exchange grins. This is the stage of South Korea’s biannual Aerospace and Defense Exposition (ADEX), opened on October 17, 2023, at the Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Aiming to forge industry ties between defense officials and company representatives, ADEX’s organizers boast that the exposition is “the largest, most comprehensive event of its kind in Northeast Asia.” It is not coincidental that ADEX is hosted by South Korea, a crucial US Cold War ally since the Korean War, and an integral part of the US military empire in Asia and the Pacific, host to 28,500 US troops and several of the most active US military installations in the world. Every Expo since 2013, activists at ADEX have staged crucial disruptions that challenge the normalization of militarization as the condition of everyday life, both in Korea and beyond its borders. This year is no exception.