As South Korea becomes a key weapon supplier to its ally of the United States, its best customers are on the brink of war zones
Under the 2022 agreement, Poland has completed an agreement to acquire a second batch of South Korean tanks, which will ultimately enable Warsaw to enhance its arsenal compared to nearly 1,000 armored vehicles.
The agreement highlights the emergence of Poland as a large number of European military forces, and South Korea’s position as a major arms supplier, especially in wars around the world where U.S. allies exhausted U.S. stocks.
As Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukraine, some of which are within 100 miles of Polish territory on the western border of Ukraine.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Warsaw has been increasing its defense spending while gaining new weapons while also helping Kiev with defense.
As a NATO member of NATO bordering Ukraine, Russian leader Vladimir Putin will see part of the alliance’s first line of defense if he decides to expand his invasion outside Ukraine.
Poland’s Ministry of Defense announced a tank deal that still needs to be officially signed, in an article on social media platform X earlier this month.
Its price tag is $6.7 billion and says it includes 80 support vehicles, ammunition, and logistics and training packages for the Polish army.
According to the South Korean Defense Acquisition Plan Authority (DAPA), the defense giant Hyundai Rotem (a production line established by defense giant Hyundai Rotem and Poles, establishing a production line in Poland, for South Korea’s most powerful units, including the defense giant, for South Korea’s most powerful units, which include the deal for the K2 main tank, which involves the world’s most powerful units.
K9 thunderbolt self-propelled howitzer participated in the Japanese military parade of the armed forces held in Warsaw, Poland on August 15, 2023.
The Polish Ministry of Defense posted on X that 60 out of the batches of 180 tanks will be built in Poland. It said the first 30 of the South Korean-made tanks included in the new contract are expected to arrive in Poland next year.
In 2022, the two countries signed an agreement with Poland to obtain 180 k2. Hyundai Rotem said all but about 45 have been delivered, and the rest are expected to arrive in Poland by the end of the year.
The framework is considered the largest overseas defense agreement in South Korea ever. The Polish Ministry of Defense said at the time that it included a total of 980 k2, 648 self-propelled K9 armored howitzers and 48 FA-50 fighters.
The ministry said the armored vehicles would partially replace Soviet-era tanks donated by Poland to Ukraine for use in combat with Russia.
The Wilson Center’s March report in Washington, D.C. said Poland provided Ukraine with more than 300 tanks and more than 350 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers.
Poland has been on the edge after Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine.
Russia’s Russian drone barrage against Lutsk, a city in northwestern Ukraine, is so strong that it makes Warsaw compete for preventive measures for fighter aircraft. Lutsk is about 50 miles from the Polish border.
A NATO report in April said Poles’ efforts to significantly increase defense spending in the face of Russian threats. Warsaw’s defense spending has increased from 2.7% of GDP in 2022 to 4.7% expected in 2025, the report said.
“Of all NATO allies, it has the highest proportion of GDP.”
It noted that Poland purchased South Korean weapons to quickly fill the gap left by donations to Ukraine.
The Wilson Center report said that Poland “can be said to be the most capable military force in Europe.”
However, the possibility report of the Rand think tank is cautious about the financing of weapons accumulation in Poland.
“Many of its purchases are financed through direct loans from countries that provide equipment,” Rand said, adding that “if such loans are proven impossible, market financing can be too expensive to turn a framework agreement into a binding contract.”
Rand also said that Poland faces recruitment challenges and needs to increase its strength of its troops by nearly 50% in the next 10 years.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Polish President Andrzej Duda greeted each other on June 28, 2025.
Meanwhile, according to the Stockholm Institute for International Peace, South Korea has become the world’s tenth largest arms exporter in the past five years.
According to SIPRI’s 2024 report on International Weapons Transfer, Poland has received 46% of South Korea’s military exports in this range, followed by 14% in the Philippines and 7% in India.
As Ukraine wars and Israel’s war in Gaza delayed, the United States has exhausted its weapons stockpile. Therefore, according to the 2024 report from the DC STIMSON Center, South Korea is increasingly seen as an option for U.S. allies who need weapons.
The report said that the arms industry in Seoul may become important to the future of Washington.
“Improving South Korea’s basic capabilities in defense industry, especially in the fields of weapons and shipbuilding, has the potential to directly support the United States,” the report said.
Shipbuilding is seen as a specific area of South Korea’s military industrial strength, and Washington has seen contracts to maintain U.S. Navy supply ships, struggling with the Navy’s backlog at U.S. shipyards, heading to South Korea’s yards.
South Korea, together with the K2 tanks, sent 174 K9 howitzers to Poland under the framework of 2022, and will deliver 38 more.
Lufthansa said the second time consisted of 152 k9s.
According to the manufacturer South Korea’s aerospace industry, only 12 of the 48 FA-50 jets ordered have been sent.
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