Since 1981, S&T Motiv Co. (formerly known as Daewoo Precision Industries) has been the premiere Korean firearms manufacturer. Now, the company has rebranded as SNT Motiv and established a Las Vegas headquarters for U.S. manufacturing with plans to offer made-in-America versions of several rifles and pistols to U.S. consumers in 2025. 
 

Daewoo History

Daewoo began manufacturing firearms in 1974, when the company started making the M16A1 rifle under contract. In the 1980s, Daewoo cut its teeth on its own designs, starting with the K1A “submachine gun,” which if you think about it, was ahead of its time. I put submachine gun in quotes because normally, we don’t consider full rifle-caliber firearms submachine guns – but that is changing. 
 

Related: To the Roofs! A Look at the Dazzling Daewoo
 

Back in the ’80s, 9mm caliber submachine guns were popular among many different special forces units and law enforcement agencies. Recently, we have seen a huge shift as those same units and same agencies adopt small, short-barrel versions with the same rifle-caliber chamberings as the full-size versions. 
 

The Daewoo Guns

Daewoo was well ahead of this trend with the K1A, a 5.56-caliber firearm with a 10.4-inch barrel. Designated the K1A submachine gun by the South Korean government, it replaced the M3 Grease Gun in military service with the ROK (Republic of Korea) special forces. 
 

The success of the small K1A design led Daewoo to explore the design of a full-size rifle. In 1984, Daewoo released the K2 rifle, which would replace the licensed M16A1 that was serving the ROK military at the time. While the K1A was a direct gas impingement rifle, the new K2 featured a long-stroke gas piston, like that of the AKM. The rifle had an iconic silhouette, mimicking many ergonomic features of the AR-15. 

The K2 took some of the best operating principles from rifles like the M16 and AKM and merged them. This long-stroke gas piston rifle was chambered for 5.56 NATO, fed from STANAG-pattern magazines, with an 18-inch barrel and a weight of about 7.5 pounds. The rifle was adopted by the ROK military in 1985 and remains in main service to this day. 
 

Moving Stateside

Unfortunately, Daewoo went under as a company in 1999. While several companies acquired and maintained some of Daewoo’s production, it was not until SNT Motiv, the current proprietor of the brand, that there was a campaign to reintroduce the platform to the United States. It has been many years since new production K2s have entered the U.S. market, with the most recent ones being neutered due to import laws. 

SNT Motiv has set up an assembly section in Las Vegas so that the company can import some parts from South Korea while manufacturing essential parts here in the States to maintain 922r compliance. This means that we will hopefully see the return of the K2 platform by the end of 2025, under the designation SNT K2S (semi-auto). 
 

Additionally, the company has plans to introduce the DP51, a domestically available version of the Daewoo K5 semi-automatic 9mm pistol, which is the service pistol of the ROK military. There are also discussions on introducing the K14 bolt-action .308 rifle and maybe even the K13 rifle, which is currently the standard-issue service firearm for the ROK-SWC (Republic of Korea Special Warfare Command). 
 

SNT plans to start taking pre-orders on the K2S around the middle of the summer, with fulfillment planned for late Q3 or Q4. This is one of the most exciting introductions at SHOT Show 2025, and you had best believe my name is on the list for some of the first rifles as soon as they are available. 

Here is a list of more products SNT released in our previously reported press release:

• K2S: Semi-auto version of the original K2 (SNT may be able to supply some OEM K2 parts)
• K13: 5.56 future standard for Korean special forces
• K14: 7.62 bolt-action rifle used by Korean special forces
• DP51: Old dual-action pistol, most likely for collectors and OEM parts
• NFA items pending