Poland, South Korea defense partnership grows with weapons procurements

 

May 11, 2024

 South Korean National Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, left, meets with Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Bejda in Seoul in April 2024. IMAGE CREDIT: SOUTH KOREAN NATIONAL DEFENSE MINISTRY

Felix Kim

Poland’s ongoing procurement of defense assets from South Korea is supporting the European nation’s military modernization in response to regional security challenges. In late April 2024, a delegation of Polish defense officials visited Seoul for talks with their South Korean counterparts and local defense firms.

Warsaw’s planned acquisitions from South Korea include K2 Black Panther tanks, K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers, FA-50 light combat aircraft and Chunmoo multiple rocket launch systems.

 

 

Polish Army Soldiers train with South Korean-built K9 howitzers in 2023.
VIDEO CREDIT: REUTERS

The purchases also reflect Poland’s commitment to meeting NATO guidelines, which call for each member country to spend at least 2% of its gross domestic product on defense. According to the security alliance’s most recent estimate, Poland allocated 3.9% of its GDP to defense in 2023, Reuters reported. Poland shares a 530-kilometer border with Ukraine and has provided Kyiv with military support exceeding $3.5 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

“We will continue to support Korean weapons systems so that they can become the mainstay of Poland’s national defense,” South Korean National Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said after meeting with Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Bejda.

“We hope that both countries can grow together through follow-up contracts and the discovery of new cooperation,” Shin said, according to Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense (MND).

Bejda and other senior Polish officials also met with the director of South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), Seok Jong-geon, to review defense industry collaboration.

The delegation attended the test-firing of a long-range version of the Chunmoo, known as HOMAR-K, that has been customized for Poland. They also visited defense companies including Kia, maker of the Legwan, a light reconnaissance vehicle that is being adapted for Polish requirements.

The two countries initially signed a $12.4 billion defense deal in 2022, the MND stated, with an additional contract signed in 2023 for the K9 Thunder howitzer. In late April 2024, Poland’s National Defense Ministry signed a $1.6 billion contract to buy 72 HOMAR-K launchers from South Korea-based Hanwha Aerospace, Reuters reported.

South Korea’s National Assembly recently approved legislation increasing the capital ceiling of the Export-Import Bank of Korea from $12.24 billion to $15 billion, The Korea Herald newspaper reported. That will give the bank more leeway in financing the weapons export agreement with Poland.

Defense cooperation with South Korea is an “opportunity for technological development, as well as for establishing a new effective partnership,” Polish Deputy Minister of State Assets Marcin Kulasek said, according to MilMag, a Poland-based military publication.

Polish defense firms hope to benefit from the procurements by contributing manufacturing assistance, MilMag noted. The Polish Armaments Group, for example, is interested in producing heavy vehicles, rocket launchers and ammunition, as well as in expanding its expertise and capabilities and acquiring new technologies.

Felix Kim is a FORUM contributor reporting from Seoul, South Korea.