South Korea’s National Assembly passed its largest-ever defense budget on Friday, greenlighting $46.3 billion (54.6 trillion won) for military-related spending in fiscal year 2022, including to defend against threats from North Korea.

Part of the final $515 billion (608 trillion won) budget passed by the National Assembly, the defense budget for 2022 is 3.4% higher than last year’s and includes $6.1 million (7.2 billion won) for what would be South Korea’s first light aircraft carrier, Seoul’s defense ministry said in a press release.

“The carrier will effectively confront threats to the Republic of Korea’s security from a variety of fronts