Tarki-Young Hamm's book is a critical inquiry into the dynamics of the armament of North and South Korea from the Korean War period to the 1990s. The author's findings reveal that North Korean military superiority is a myth, used by South Korean governments to legitimize military expenditure. Moreover, defence spending has been used to consolidate authoritarian regimes and mobilize popular support. This analysis describes and explains the armament processes of the two Korean states from a more objective, critical perspective. Hamm considers defence expenditure as the best indicator of...