South Korea’s Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back flies to Poland on Thursday to meet with his Polish counterpart and finalize an estimated 8.8 trillion won ($6.4 million) to export a second batch of K2 tanks to Poland.
Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Ahn plans to visit the European nation from Thursday to Saturday, in his first overseas trip since taking office last week. The trip was arranged at the request of Poland’s Ministry of National Defense, according to Seoul’s ministry.
Throughout his three-day trip, Ahn plans to attend a signing ceremony for the deal secured and confirmed by Seoul early this month, in which Poland is expected to receive 180 new K2 tanks. Some 117 units will be manufactured by Korean defense contractor Hyundai Rotem, and the remaining will be produced by Poland's state-owned Polish Armaments Group. The ceremony will be held in Gliwice in the Upper Silesia region.
In his scheduled meeting with the Polish defense minister, Ahn will discuss ways to bolster defense and arms industry cooperation between the two countries, Seoul’s ministry said. Strategic security cooperation between Seoul and Warsaw to help achieve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula will be addressed as well.
"The second K2 tank agreement is our biggest single arms export contract to date and will serve as an occasion to advance the mutually beneficial cooperative ties between the two countries, based on our partnership (with Poland)," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The latest supply contract is part of a broader framework reached between the two countries in 2022, which was valued at $44.2 billion. Besides K2 tanks, Seoul agreed to supply the country with rocket launchers and fighter jets. The agreement came as Poland decided to increase its defense spending following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February that year.
Later in 2022, Hyundai Rotem signed a deal worth around $3.3 billion to supply Poland with the first batch of 180 K2 tanks.
A day after the arms procurement agency here announced that Seoul had secured the second export deal on July 2, President Lee Jae Myung lauded the agreement as a “splendid feat” for South Korea’s defense sector.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
