INTERVIEW Korean arms firms need European joint ventures to expand NATO ties: Czech defense chief

By Park Ji-won

• Published Sep 10, 2026 7:00 AM KST

Korean defense companies seeking to expand their ties with NATO member nations may need to establish joint ventures and local production partnerships in member states, following the model they have built in Poland, Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Jaromír Zůna said Monday.

“Poland is not only buying (Korea’s K2 tanks). Basically, it is building industry around it in cooperation with South Korean businesses,” Zůna said during an interview with The Korea Times at the Czech Embassy in Seoul.

“Poland is a prime example of how it should be done — basically creating a joint venture, transferring technology from South Korea to the European partner,” he said, noting that a number of European countries are considering the K2 as a potential main battle tank.

Zůna was in Seoul to attend the Seoul Defense Dialogue, an annual multilateral security forum hosted by Korea’s Ministry of National Defense. This year’s forum ran from Monday through Wednesday. During his visit, he also met Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back to discuss bilateral defense and security cooperation.

The minister said the same partnership model could help Korean defense companies enter the Czech market and, more broadly, expand their access to Europe and NATO.

“It is necessary to find a partner in the Czech Republic ... Geographical distances exists and logistically it is a challenge, but in today's world there is no impediment to cooperate even between the countries,” he said.

“There always has to be partnership and there always has to be joint venture, because that also opens the door not only to the Czech market or acquisitions, but also within Europe and NATO.”

His remarks underscore the growing importance of localization as Korean defense companies seek a larger share of the European arms market, where governments increasingly emphasize domestic industrial participation, supply chain security and interoperability alongside weapons performance.

The issue has taken on greater significance after Hanwha Ocean lost Canada’s 60 billion Canadian dollar ($43.5 billion) submarine contract to Germany’s TKMS in July, a decision Ottawa attributed to NATO interoperability as well as strategic and security interests.

Zůna, who previously served in senior NATO positions, said European countries, including the Czech Republic, are also reassessing their defense strategies as Washington shifts more of its strategic attention and military resources toward Asia.

“It is important that if the U.S. is shifting its focus on Asia and also we'll have to shift certain military capacities into this region, which means that additional burden will be imposed on the European NATO member states to increase or strengthen our own ability to defend ourselves,” he said.

Asked where defense cooperation between Seoul and Prague could expand, Zůna pointed to small arms and military vehicles as two promising areas.

He said Czech firearms maker Colt CZ is seeking to expand its business in Korea, while military mobility platforms could offer another avenue for cooperation.

“It is the whole family of small arms, because Colt CZ is now a world-class company,” he said. “Second would be the commonality of platforms, basically military mobility — TATRA plus other vehicles.”

Colt CZ and Tatra are both major Czech manufacturers. Zůna noted that the Czech Republic produces a broad range of off-road military vehicles and wheeled armored personnel carriers and is preparing to expand production of infantry fighting vehicles beginning next year.

However, Zůna noted opportunities for major new Czech procurement projects involving Korea may be limited in the near term because Prague’s defense acquisition plans are largely committed through 2035.

“Every major or strategic armament project takes somewhere between six to 10 years as a minimum. So everything is already planned in the republic,” he said.

Similar constraints exist elsewhere in Europe, he said, making cooperation in production capacity and supply chains another potentially important area. European defense planners are increasingly examining how production of military equipment can be distributed among partners, particularly as countries seek reliable access to weapons and ammunition during periods of heightened demand.

Zůna said Korea’s ability to produce sophisticated military equipment and ammunition could make it an important partner in that effort.

“(Korea) always has access to military material, especially sophisticated ammunition,” he said. “That is a very important area which is now being discussed in Europe and, I would say, in the Euro-Atlantic area.”