Army chief discusses arms, defense cooperation in Poland, Romania

- South Korea's top Army officer has discussed ways to broaden defense and arms industry cooperation during a trip to Poland and Romania, his office said Thursday, amid the South's ongoing push to boost arms exports. During the nine-day visit that ended Wednesday, Gen. Park An-su first visited Poland for talks with Wieslaw Kukula, chief of the Polish General Staff, where they shared their assessment of the security situation and concurred on bolstering cooperation as nations that use the same weapons systems. In 2022, Poland signed major deals with South Korean defense companies to buy various weapons systems, including K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers and Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers. Park then headed to Romania for talks with key military officials, including Lt. Gen. Ciprian Marin, chief of staff of the Romanian Land Forces. It marked the first official visit to Romania by South Korea's top Army officer. During their talks, Romanian officials stressed that the country's decision to buy K9 se lf-propelled howitzers marked the first arms acquisition from a non-member country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and expressed interest in various South Korea-made weapons, while Park vowed to closely cooperate with the Romanian military's modernization plan, according to the Army. In July, South Korea's Hanwha Aerospace clinched a US$1 billion deal to supply Romania with 54 K9s and 36 K10 armored ammunition resupply vehicles. Source: Yonhap News Agency