By Saadet Gokce
ISTANBUL - South Korea on Friday signed a major arms export deal with Poland worth around $6.5 billion, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry.
The agreement includes exports of 180 K2 tanks as well as 81 other support vehicles, according to a statement from the ministry.
The deal marks the first major arms export agreement under South Korea’s newly elected President Lee Jae-myung, who took office in June.
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back attended the signing ceremony between Hyundai Rotem and Poland's armament agency in Gliwice in southern Poland.
The contract is part of a broader push by Poland to bolster its defense capabilities. In 2022, Warsaw signed multiple agreements with South Korea for K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers, and FA-50 light attack aircraft.
The latest agreement will reportedly provide Poland with 117 K2 tanks produced by Hyundai Rotem and 63 K2PL tanks to be built locally by state-owned defense firm PGZ.
The sides had signed a contract in 2022 for the first batch of the 180 tanks as Warsaw's continued efforts to strengthen its military in response to the Russia-Ukraine war on its doorstep.