South Korean and Polish leaders visit airbase in eastern Poland and discuss defense and energy ties

MINSK MAZOWIECKI, Poland (AP) — South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was in Poland on Wednesday for talks on regional security amid war in neighboring Ukraine, and also to discuss military and nuclear energy cooperation, as the two countries continue to strengthen their ties.

Han and his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, visited an airbase in Minsk Mazowiecki in eastern Poland where they watched Korean FA-50 fighter jets that Poland recently bought along with other military equipment.

They discussed further cooperation over military weapons and equipment, as Poland also wants to help produce South Korean weapons. South Korea is also to take part in Poland’s development of nuclear power.

Poland has given much military equipment to neighboring Ukraine to support its fight against Russia and is making intensive weapons purchases to upgrade its own deterrence and defense capabilities.

Warsaw is buying billions of dollars worth of armaments, mainly from the U.S. and South Korea, from whom it has also bought K2 tanks along with K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers and K239 Chunmoo artillery systems. Poland plans to spend more than 4% of its gross domestic product on defense in 2024.

Later Wednesday, Han was to travel to the southern spa town of Krynica-Zdroj to meet Polish President Andrzej Duda and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and to attend a three-day regional economic forum. Polish-South Korean cooperation will be a key element of the forum’s program, organizers say.

Bilateral economic trade between the countries was more than $10 billion in 2022, when the armaments purchases were made.

Poland and South Korea share views on security in the face of Russia’s war on Ukraine.