Korea, Britain hold defense talks on arms industry cooperation

Defense officials of Korea and Britain pose for a group photo during their two-day talks aimed at deepening arms industry cooperation, Thursday. Courtesy of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration

Senior defense officials of Korea and Britain have held annual bilateral talks earlier this week aimed at strengthening policy cooperation in the arms industry, the state arms procurement agency said Thursday.

The two-day gathering took place in London and was led by Jeong Gyu-heon, deputy minister for advanced capabilities program at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), and Oliver Harry, director for defense and security exports for Britain's Department for Business and Trade, according to DAPA.

Jeong and Harry held in-depth discussions over the strategic partnership between Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean and British defense firm Babcock as well as cooperation between Hanwha Systems and Britain's BAE Systems on satellites.

During the talks, the Korean government proposed a new memorandum of understanding to advance bilateral defense science and technology cooperation and both sides agreed to push for the swift signing of the agreement, DAPA said.