Poland, South Korea Sign Major Arms Deal After CCP Reportedly Blocks Polish Visit to South Korea

South Korean army soldiers prepare to fire 105mm howitzers during an exercise in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea Wednesday, June 22, 2016. In a remarkable show of persistence, North Korea on Wednesday fired two suspected powerful new Musudan mid-range missiles, U.S. and South Korean military officials said, but at least one of the launches apparently failed, Pyongyang's fifth such reported flop since April. AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon

Although Polish deputy prime minister and minister of national defense Mariusz Błaszczak’s recent visit to South Korea was reportedly blocked by China, the Polish Defense Ministry signed a major new arms deal with a South Korean military-industrial corporation on Oct. 19.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that Hanwha Defense signed a framework agreement with the Polish Ministry of National Defense in Warsaw, Poland, for the export of 288 K-239 Chunmoo rocket artillery systems. The contract has a price tag of about $6 billion, with deliveries starting in 2023.

Quoted on the Polish government’s website, Defense Minister Blaszczak said the K-239 Chunmoo “is a very good weapon,” with similar characteristics to the U.S.-made M142 HIMARS rocket system that Poland ordered in 2019, to be delivered next year.

Blaszczak said Poland had “submitted an inquiry for larger deliveries” of the HIMARS system, but the equipment could not be delivered “in a satisfactory time,” so Poland turned to South Korea for the rocket systems.

Signing Was to Coincide With Weapons Delivery Ceremony in Seoul

In August, the Polish Armaments Agency signed the first phase of the contract with two Korean arms companies—Hyundai Rotem and Hanwha Defense—for the export of K-2 Panther tanks and K-9 self-propelled howitzers, for $5.8 billion. The first batch of weapons was delivered at a ceremony in Seoul, South Korea, on Oct. 19th, which officially kicked off the weapons delivery process.

Błaszczak was scheduled to lead a Polish government delegation to South Korea to participate in the release ceremony for the weapons purchased recently and at the same time to sign the framework agreement with Hanwha Defense.

The trip was canceled, reportedly because of a “technical fault with the aircraft,” according to a Polish government statement. Therefore the meeting between Korean and Polish defense ministers took place online.

Korean Media Report CCP Blocked Polish Delegation Visit

However, the Korea Times reported, citing officials, that the trip was canceled because the Chinese regime refused to allow the Polish delegation to fly through Chinese airspace, necessitating a virtual meeting for the arms deal.

Alternate air routes would have been too time-consuming, ultimately causing the Polish mission to abandon its trip to Korea. Therefore the meeting between Korean and Polish defense ministers took place online.

Kim Taewoo is a Professor at South Korea’s Konyang University Department of Military Affairs, and former president of the Korea Institute for National Unification. He told the Epoch Times that China is clearly unhappy that Poland is buying weapons from South Korea. Most likely, this is because Poland opposed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and actively supported Ukraine through weapons donations.

Kim stressed that denying airspace to the Polish delegation was a backward step by China. In the international arena, he said, all countries open their airspace to non-military civilian aircraft, and China is violating that principle.

Kim said that China’s move was also a warning to South Korea, which is in the Western camp.

People’s Liberation Army Daily, the military newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) published an August report titled “South Korea’s arms sales to Poland threatens itself.” The report claimed that the arms deals constitute “South Korea’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict to a certain extent” and that “South Korea threatens itself by profiting from war.”

South Korea Now World’s Eighth-Largest Arms Supplier

Recently, South Korea has signed a series of groundbreaking arms deals.

Its August contract with Poland was the first phase of a comprehensive deal inked in July between the two countries—called the largest arms deal in South Korea’s history. The deal agreed to supply Poland with nearly 1,000 K-2 Black Panther main battle tanks, 672 K-9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers, and 48 FA-50 light combat aircraft. The total value of the procurement agreement was estimated to be as much as 19 trillion won (about $14.5 billion).

On Feb. 1, South Korea signed an agreement, worth about $1.7 billion, to supply Egypt with hundreds of K9 self-propelled howitzers, K10 ammunition resupply vehicles, and K11 Fire Direction Control Vehicles.

On Jan. 16 this year, South Korea signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates to export Korean-made medium-range surface-to-air missiles, valued at about $3.5 billion. At the time, it was said to be South Korea’s largest-ever export deal.

On Dec. 13 last year, South Korea signed a contract with Australia to export 30 K-9 self-propelled guns and 15 armored ammunition resupply vehicles, for a total of about $716.5 million.

In addition, South Korea’s arms exports to Asia-Pacific countries are also growing. According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) (pdf), the Philippines and Indonesia were South Korea’s two largest buyers, accounting for 16 percent and 14 percent of arms purchases from South Korea between 2017-2021.

In March, the SIPRI released new data on the global arms trade, showing that South Korea’s share of the global arms export market expanded from 1 percent in the period 2012–16 to 2.8 percent in the time period 2017–21, a 177 percent increase.

That makes South Korea the world’s eighth largest arms exporter, after the United States, Russia, France, China, Germany, Italy, and the UK. Among the world’s top 25 arms exporters, South Korea’s market share increased the most in that time period.

Expert: South Korea Has Become a Favored Arms Source

Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Professor of International Relations at King’s College London, said in an August article in Korea JoongAng Daily that after South Korea’s deal with Poland in July, it became the only Asian country exporting weapons to NATO members.

Pacheco Pardo noted that South Korea has become a favored arms supplier to countries around the world for three reasons: First, it has the ability to reliably and quickly supply sophisticated weapons. Secondly, although Russia and China are major arms exporters, many countries in the West refuse to buy weapons from both countries, limiting their options to Western allies.

Finally, because South Korea is a U.S. ally, its weapons systems frequently include U.S. technology. It may not be state-of-the-art, but it is nonetheless sophisticated and “helps to boost the quality of South Korea’s military equipment,” according to Pacheco Pardo.