[Join us] KICK ISRAEL OUT OF SEOUL ADEX 2025!
South Korea’s largest arms fair, the Seoul ADEX 2025 (hereafter ADEX), will be held from October 17 to 24, 2025 at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam and KINTEX in Ilsan. ADEX is an event that promotes the production and trade of weapons, bringing together major domestic and international arms companies to showcase weapons, hold business meetings, and conduct actual deals.
Israel, a Genocidal War Criminal State, Is Coming to South Korea for Selling Weapons
Israel’s genocide against Palestinians has continued for more than 700 days, killing over 63,000 people in Gaza alone—the majority of them women and children. Nearly 2 million people have been repeatedly displaced, and around 80% of infrastructure has been destroyed. Israel has deliberately engineered famine to annihilate Palestinians, repeatedly violated international law, declared the full occupation of Gaza, and launched massive military operations.
Genocide scholars, the United Nations, European countries such as the UK and France, and even Jewish communities have identified Israel’s massacres and “scorched earth operations” in Gaza as genocide.
Now, Israeli arms companies complicit in these war crimes are coming to South Korea. They plan to sell their weapons at ADEX, boasting that their performance has been “combat-proven” through massacres and destruction in the so-called “Palestinian laboratory.” Some even advertise how effectively their products carried out destruction and killings in Palestine.
▲ Promotional video of Rafael, Israel’s state-owned arms company: it claims its drone system identifies and tracks targets in Gaza to “eliminate threats.” The targeted person, however, was unarmed.
This year’s ADEX is expected to see the largest participation from Israeli companies to date, including the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. These companies have been deeply involved in Israel’s policies of annihilation against Palestinians—not only since the genocide escalated after October 7, 2023, but long before.
Companies Complicit in Israel’s Policy of Annihilation
The Israeli companies participating in ADEX—Elbit Systems, IAI, and Rafael—are directly complicit in Israel’s genocidal policies.
– Rafael’s Spike Firefly promotional video
“⚠️ This video contains graphic depictions of killing. Viewer discretion is advised.”
Elbit’s Hermes 900 surveillance drone was first deployed during Israel’s large-scale bombardment of Gaza in 2014. Although described as a reconnaissance drone, it can carry four air-to-surface missiles and has been used for surveillance and strike missions in Gaza and the West Bank. In July 2014, four children playing on a beach were killed in an attack carried out by a Hermes 900.
On April 1, 2024, a World Central Kitchen humanitarian convoy in Gaza was struck by a Hermes 450 drone. Survivors who moved to a second and then third vehicle were hit again by missiles—believed to be Rafael’s Spike type—launched by the same drone. Seven humanitarian workers were killed.
Elbit’s MPR 500 multipurpose bomb, designed for use in urban combat in densely populated areas, has been repeatedly used in Gaza. According to the Guardian (July 2, 2025), a 500-pound bomb killed dozens at a café in Gaza. Fragments indicated it was either an MPR 500 or an MK 82 bomb.
▲ Debris found after the bombing of Gaza, believed to be from Elbit Systems’ MPR 500 bomb or General Dynamics’ MK 82 bomb (Photo credit: Enas Tantesh / The Guardian)
State-owned IAI produces the Heron TP drone, capable of both reconnaissance and armed strikes. It has been deployed continuously in Gaza since October 7, 2023. IAI’s CEO admitted the Heron played a “central role” in Gaza strike operations. While not all attacks have been confirmed, many drone strikes in Gaza are believed to have been carried out by Heron TPs.
IAI’s Harop loitering munition (“suicide drone”) has also reportedly been used in civilian areas, including refugee camps, according to evidence circulating on social media.
Rafael posted a promotional video of its Spike Firefly drone killing an unarmed man walking in northern Gaza.
In October 2023, Rafael’s SPICE 2000-pound bombs were heavily used in Gaza, with more than 200 strikes conducted by December.
Rafael’s newly released Spark drone (for intelligence missions, troop escort, and attack guidance) has also been widely deployed in Gaza.
Arms Companies Profit from Death and Suffering
The devastation of Gaza—flattened neighborhoods, indiscriminate attacks, and deliberate starvation—demonstrates, grotesquely, how “effective” these weapons are. Israeli arms companies profiting from weapons “compat-proven” on Palestinians are perhaps the starkest example of the arms industry’s immorality.
The South Korean government, too, has been complicit—continuing military cooperation and arms trade with Israel even after the genocide escalated. South Korea is participating in Israel’s war crimes.
This year’s ADEX is also expected to host SIBAT, the International Defense Cooperation Directorate under Israel’s Ministry of Defense. We cannot allow Israeli military officials and genocide-complicit companies to come to ADEX.
Stop Israel’s Participation in ADEX
In June, France banned Israeli arms companies from the Paris Air Show, the world’s largest aerospace defense fair, in protest against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. France had also barred Israeli participation in two other arms fairs in June and October 2024.
The UK government likewise decided not to invite the Israeli delegation to DSEI, its arms fair beginning September 9, 2025.
In Poland, some Israeli arms company staffs were briefly detained and later left the country after being accused of involvement in the Gaza genocide.
The international community is already barring Israeli arms companies complicit in genocide from their arms fairs. To stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the South Korean government must also ban the entry of Israeli government, military, and corporate representatives. South Korea must not continue to collude with or tolerate Israel’s war crimes.
📣Take Action Now! (Deadline: September 22)
We call on the Ministry of National Defense, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, and the Seoul ADEX Office:
- Do not invite the Israeli delegation.
- Ban the entry of Israeli government, military, and corporate representatives.
- Prohibit the participation of Israeli companies and speakers.
We aim to gather 3,000 signatures in support of these demands and will hold a press conference in front of the Ministry of National Defense on September 23, where we will submit a joint petition.
We must stop Israel, a war criminal state, from entering South Korea. Sign now and spread the word!
Press Conference to Call for the Ban on Israel’s Participation in Seoul ADEX
- Date: September 23, 2025 (Tue), 11:00 AM
- Location: In front of the Ministry of National Defense
Please direct any inquires to Stop Arms Fairs South Korea (World Without War: (+82-2-6401-0514 / peace@withoutwar.org / People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy: +82-2-723-4250 / peace@pspd.org / Civilian Military Watch: +82-2-338-0426 / watch@militarywatch.or.kr).
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