[The Epoch Times, October 20, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Wu Huanxin interviewed and reported) Under the obstruction of the CCP, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Bvaszcak did not make a recent visit to South Korea, but the Polish Ministry of Defense announced in October On the 19th, it signed a huge new order for weapons with the South Korean military industry as scheduled.
According to the South Korean Ministry of Defense on October 19, the defense company “Hanwha Defense” of South Korea’s Hanwha Group signed a framework agreement with the Polish Ministry of Defense in Warsaw, Poland to export 288 K-239 “Sky Dance” multiple rocket launchers, with a scale of more than 60 billion, with deliveries starting in 2023.
Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the K-239 “Sky Dance” is a very good piece of armament that matches the United States ordered by Poland in 2019 and will be delivered next year. The manufactured HIMARS “has very similar characteristics”.
He said U.S. contractors “couldn’t deliver more ‘Haimas’ in a satisfactory time frame”, “so we talked to South Korea, our tried-and-true partners, our friends, and today signed the framework. protocol”.
Although the agreement signed by Han Bo did not disclose the specific procurement scale, according to Yonhap News Agency, citing local media in Warsaw, the procurement scale exceeded 6 billion US dollars. This is the second time Poland has purchased South Korean weapons. In August this year, the Polish Armaments Agency signed the first phase of the contract for the export of K2 “Black Panther” tanks and K9 self-propelled artillery with two South Korean military enterprises, Hyundai Rotem and Hanwha Defense, with a scale of 5.76 billion US dollars.
The first batch of weapons delivery ceremony was held in Seoul, South Korea on the 19th, and the delivery of weapons was officially launched.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Bvaszcak originally planned to lead a delegation of the Polish government to visit South Korea on the 17th. While participating in the ceremony of the first batch of weapons, he signed a contract with Hanwha Defense to introduce 288 K-239 “Sky Dance” multiple rocket launchers in South Korea. Sign the framework agreement. However, the trip was forced to be cancelled because the Chinese government refused to allow the special plane of the Polish envoy to pass through Chinese airspace. If the special plane bypasses other countries without passing through China’s airspace, it will lead to long business trips, and the Polish envoy will eventually abandon the trip to South Korea.
The Polish side had no choice but to change the weapon delivery ceremony to online attendance, and the meeting between the defense ministers of South Korea and Poland was also held online.
Regarding the reason why the CCP government does not allow the special plane of the Polish envoy to pass through the airspace, South Korean public opinion generally believes that the CCP regime that favored Russia in the war of Russian aggression against Ukraine may have made such a decision in consideration of Russia’s position.
Kim Taewoo, a professor of the Department of Military Affairs of Konyang University in South Korea and former dean of the Institute of Unification, told The Epoch Times that Poland opposed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and actively supported Ukraine’s weapons. Dissatisfied with the purchase of Korean weapons, thus doing so.
“However, this approach is too backward! Internationally, all countries open airspace to all non-military civilian aircraft. China (the CCP) violates this principle by doing so.” He emphasized.
In addition, Jin Taiyu also said that from the standpoint of South Korea, the CCP’s approach also has a “warning meaning” to South Korea, which is standing in the Western camp.
The People’s Liberation Army Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s military newspaper, threatened South Korea with a report in August under the title “South Korea’s arms sales to Poland may cause fire”, claiming that South Korea’s arms sales to Poland were “South Korea is also involved in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to a certain extent”. If you walk a tightrope to make money on the edge of war, South Korea may get burned.”
South Korea’s arms exports surge to eighth in the world
South Korea has recently signed a series of breakthrough arms deals. In July this year, South Korea and Poland reached “the largest arms deal in South Korea’s history”, which will provide Poland with nearly 1,000 K2 “Black Panther” main battle tanks, 648 K9 “Thunder” self-propelled howitzers and 48 FA-50 light vehicles For fighter jets, the total contract value is expected to exceed 19 trillion won ($14.5 billion).
On February 1 this year, South Korea signed a $1.7 billion arms sales agreement with Egypt to provide Egypt with hundreds of K9 self-propelled howitzers, K10 ammunition supply vehicles and K11 fire direction control vehicles.
On January 16 this year, the Korean Defense Agency disclosed that the UAE Ministry of Defense finally decided to purchase the Korean-made medium-range surface-to-air missile defense system (M-SAM2) “Tiangong II”, with a total contract value of 3.5 billion US dollars.
On December 13 last year, South Korea and Australia formally signed a contract to export 30 K9 self-propelled artillery and 15 K10 ammunition supply vehicles, with a total amount of 1.09 trillion won (about 920 million US dollars).
In addition, South Korea’s arms exports to Asia-Pacific countries are also strong. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the Philippines and Indonesia are South Korea’s two largest customers, accounting for 16% and 14% of purchases over the past five years, respectively.
New data on the global arms trade released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in March this year showed that South Korea’s share of the global arms export market expanded from 1% in 2012-2016 to 2.8% in 2017-2021, with sales increasing by 177%. %, making it the eighth largest arms exporter in the world. The top seven arms exporters are the United States, Russia, France, China, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Among the top 25 arms exporters in the world, South Korea had the largest increase in market share.
After the South Korean military industry received a huge order from Poland in July this year, Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a professor at King’s College London and KF visiting professor at the Free University of Brussels, published in South Korea’s “Joongang Daily” in August ‘s op-ed said the order once again cemented South Korea’s position as the only Asian country to export arms to NATO members.
The article stated that the reason why South Korea has become a favored arms supplier to countries around the world is that South Korea has the ability to reliably and quickly supply cutting-edge weapons.
Second, Russia and China are major arms exporters in Asia, but their share of the global arms export market is taking a huge hit as major arms importers refuse to buy arms from both countries.
Third, South Korea is a close military ally of the United States, which also benefits South Korea’s arms exports. South Korea’s weapons systems use a lot of American technology, which may not be the latest or cutting-edge technology, but it is also quite sophisticated and helps to improve the quality of South Korean military equipment.
Responsible editor: Li Ling#