Poland on Friday signed a deal worth about US$6.5 billion to purchase the second batch of K2 tanks from major South Korean defense contractor Hyundai Rotem Co., Seoul's defense ministry said.
The deal marks the largest-ever arms export contract won by a South Korean company and the first major one since the launch of the Lee Jae Myung administration in June.
Under the deal, Poland will be supplied with 180 K2 tanks and 81 other support vehicles. It follows up on a contract Poland signed in 2022 for the first batch of 180 K2 tanks amid a major armament push after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
While the ministry did not specify the exact terms of the latest deal, 117 of the 180 tanks will reportedly be built by Hyundai Rotem, while the rest will be produced by Poland's state-owned defense company PGZ.
The ministry said the latest contract includes production of a Polish variant of the K2 and development of other armored support vehicles, while opening the possibility of joint production and exports.
South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and his Polish counterpart, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, attended the signing ceremony between Hyundai Rotem and Poland's armament agency in Gliwice in southern Poland.
"Through the signing of the second K2 executive contract, (we) have created an opportunity to solidify our strategic partnership beyond a simple relationship between a supplier and a user," Ahn was quoted as saying at the ceremony.
Before the ceremony, Ahn held talks with Kosiniak-Kamysz to discuss ways to deepen their countries' cooperation in the arms industry.
Ahn pledged support and training for Poland's use of Korean weapons systems, including the K2 and K9 self-propelled howitzers, and also proposed cooperation in Warsaw's other defense projects, including its plan to acquire submarines.
Ahn also invited his Polish counterpart to Seoul, to which Kosiniak-Kamysz replied he would make the visit at an early date, according to the ministry.
