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| President Yoon Suk-yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee arrive in Madrid, Spain, Monday (local time). Yonhap |
Industry expects president's arms marketing to help exports
By Kang Seung-woo
President Yoon Suk-yeol is expected to engage in marketing efforts in his first overseas trip since his inauguration toward exporting domestically developed weapons that are currently capturing attention from countries amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Yoon is now attending the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain, where he will discuss security and economic ties with world leaders.
Although Korea does not belong to the 30-member alliance, it was invited along with Japan, Australia and New Zealand as the organization's Asia-Pacific partners.
The expectations come as a number of countries have shown interest in Korean-made military hardware as part of efforts to boost military capabilities in light of the war in Ukraine.
The local defense industry is particularly focusing on Yoon's summit with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, scheduled for Wednesday (local time), as the two leaders may close an arms deal during the bilateral talks.
The Central European country is one of the most enthusiastic about purchasing Korean weaponry such as Korea Aerospace Industries' (KAI) FA-50 light fighter jet and Hyundai Rotem's K2 tank.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak and a delegation visited Korea late last month and early this month, respectively, and toured defense firms as well as military units operating the weapons in which the country is interested.
The minister expressed intent to buy 48 FA-50s worth a total 2 trillion won ($1.55 billion), according to media reports, and the country's armament agency said the aircraft was being considered as a platform for strengthening the Polish Air Force. Poland has already decided to hand off its MiG-29s to Ukraine.
For the delegation's part, it toured Air Force and Army units operating the FA-50, the K-30 Biho self-propelled 30-millimeter anti-aircraft gun and the Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher.
In addition, they also made a visit to defense companies, including Hanwha Systems and LIG Nex1, both of which have developed active electronically scanned array radar systems, and Hanwha Defense, which developed the Chunmoo.
Along with Poland, some NATO member nations are also on local defense firms' radar, according to the defense industry.
A defense industry official said Yoon's expected promotion of local weapons to NATO countries will pave the way for Korean companies to gain a footing in the tough European market that is traditionally hostile to Korean products. NATO is comprised of 28 European countries and two North American ones.
"Aircraft and some other products are items marketed by the president to other countries. In that respect, if he promotes arms exports while meeting other countries' leaders at the multilateral conference, the defense industry surely views it positively," the official said.
According to government sources, cooperation in the areas of national defense and arms sales will be on the agenda during Yoon's summits with leaders of NATO member nations.
"Even though we do not know what the exact agenda will be during the meetings with the leaders, promotion itself during summits would be a good signal," the official said.
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