Polish President Andrzej Duda received attention for publicly praising Korean weapons during a visit to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on the 6th (local time).
On the same day, President Duda mentioned during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that Poland had made large-scale purchases of American and Korean weapons since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
President Duda said, "Why did we buy Korean weapons? The reason is simple. We expected that our Korean partners would be able to supply wonderful modern weapons within a few months."
He specifically mentioned the names of the K2 main battle tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers, and the Cheonmu multiple launch rocket system that Poland purchased, stating, "The timeline from order to delivery is one year." He further noted, "In the case of other partners in Europe, it takes several years for delivery."
President Duda pointed out, "This means that we need to rebuild our (European defense industry) potential," adding, "This is a very important task not only for Poland but for NATO as a whole."
Korea signed the largest comprehensive contract for weapons systems export to Poland in 2022. Poland spent 4.12% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense as of last year, the highest among NATO member countries in terms of GDP. This year, defense expenditure is expected to reach about 4.7% of GDP.
The European Union (EU) is working to temporarily suspend the application of financial rules to encourage member countries to increase defense expenditure and is promoting a plan to support loans of 150 billion euros (about 230 trillion won) backed by the EU budget.
The EU plans to specify "European conditions" for the lenders whose budget is utilized. However, it is expected that there will be no separate restrictions on the use of funds when individual countries increase their defense expenditure under the financial rule suspension.