South Korea Emerges as a Major Arms Supplier to Poland

South Korean K2 Black Panther Photo: Jeong Seung / Republic of Korea Armed Forces

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has provoked a wave of arms sales across Europe. Surprisingly, South Korea has emerged as a major supplier of arms to the continent, due to its continued investments in the domestic defense industry.

In recent months, Poland has undertaken an effort to modernize its military. To fund the large acquisitions that modernization will require, Poland recently approved a record-high defense budget of $20 billion for 2023. Within this budget, about $8 billion is allocated for capital expenditure, a new high for the country. Among the enormous investments that Poland has undertaken is a $5.8 billion dollar contract with South Korean companies. In particular, the package includes 980 K2 Black Panther tanks, 672 K9 self-propelled howitzers and 48 FA-50 fighter planes. The integration of Korean FA-50 planes will allow Poland to officially retire the Soviet MiG-29 and Su-22, giving the acquisition particular symbolic importance to a country trying to move beyond its legacy as a Russian satellite state. While this will signal a significant pivot towards South Korea as a primary arms supplier, the US has also struck recent deals with Poland to provide similar capabilities, providing weapons such as the American M1A2 Abrams. Yet tensions remain between the two arms suppliers, as Poland decreased its order of American HIMARs from 500 to 300 in light of the purchase from South Korea. 

Poland’s remarkable economic growth has enabled this large military expansion over the past decade. In the past few years, Poland has emerged as a leader in economic growth in Europe, with a projected 13.5% increase in real GDP from 2020-2023. With the pressure mounting due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, these acquisitions are likely to continue as long as Poland feels threatened and they can finance such expenditures.

Polish troops train on US weapons systems Photo: Jeong Seung / Republic of Korea Armed Forces

Beyond Poland, Korean arms sales have begun to sweep the continent. For example, Estonia purchased K9 howitzers from South Korea in 2018, which have since been delivered. Estonia’s top general recently traveled to Seoul to attend the DX Korea 2022 trade show and to meet with South Korean general Kim Seung-kyum. Likewise, Norway is actively considering buying the K2 tank, which will be delivered in 2023. These acquisitions are especially remarkable because this is the first time a NATO country aside from Turkey has purchased weapons from a country outside the alliance. 

However, unlike Turkey’s S-400 purchase, these sales have not provoked direct consequences from NATO countries due to the strong alliance between the US and South Korea. In fact, the US has even actively supported the integration of South Korea into the Western alliance. This past week, it was confirmed that the US would purchase 100,000 artillery shells from South Korea on behalf of Ukraine. Due to the ongoing tension with North Korea, South Korea has felt pressure for decades to develop its defense industry to avoid relying on other countries for protection. Now, as war rages on in Europe, the defense industry has come to the aid of allies that are a continent away.