Seoul, July 30 Defence Minister of South Korea, Ahn Gyu-back will head to Poland this week to attend a signing ceremony for a deal to export additional K2 battle tanks and hold talks with his Polish counterpart on expanding arms cooperation, the ministry said Wednesday.
Ahn will depart for the European country on Thursday for a three-day visit, according to Seoul's defence ministry. It marks his first overseas trip since taking office as the first defence chief of the Lee Jae Myung government.
Ahn's trip, arranged upon Poland's request, comes after South Korea's state arms procurement agency confirmed that Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and Hyundai Rotem Co., the manufacturer of the K2 tanks, have wrapped up their final talks on the export deal, Yonhap news agency reported.
"The follow-up K2 tank agreement is the biggest single arms export contract to date and will serve as an occasion to advance the mutually beneficial cooperative ties between the two countries, based on their partnership," the defence ministry said in a release.
The US$6.5 billion deal follows a series of deals Poland signed in 2022 with South Korean defence companies to acquire K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers and FA-50 light attack aircraft amid the country's defence spending increase after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
As part of the visit, Ahn will also hold talks with Kosiniak-Kamysz to discuss ways to strengthen their defence and arms industry cooperation as well as collaboration for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.
On July 25, Ahn pledged to rebuild the military into one trusted by the people following last year's botched martial law bid, as he formally took office as the country's first civilian defence chief in 64 years.
Ahn made the remark after President Lee Jae Myung approved his appointment earlier in the day, filling the ministerial post that had been vacant since former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun stepped down over allegations he played a key role in the short-lived martial law imposition on December 3.
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