A K239 Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher fires a projectile in this photo from Oct. 20. Courtesy of Hanwha Defense

By Ko Dong-hwan

Korea's Hanwha Aerospace signed a $3.55 billion deal on Friday to export around 200 multiple rocket launchers to Poland, raising Korea's annual weapons exports to a new record.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), under Korea's Ministry of National Defense, said Friday that the contract was the first in a series of weapons deals with the Polish military.

The sale of the Chunmoo 230 millimeter multiple rocket launchers brought Korea's overall weapons exports this year to $17 billion. The contract with Poland accounts for $12.4 billion of that total.

Korea exported 980 K2 main battle tanks and 648 K9 howitzers to Poland on Aug. 26. The following month, Korea also exported 48 FA-50 light attack aircraft to Poland.

Korea's weapons exports surged from around $3 billion in 2020 to $7.25 billion the following year.

DAPA Minister Eom Dong-hwan, said the latest deal was "another accomplishment of cooperation between the country's national defense industry and the government."

The Polish representatives were not able to come to Seoul because of their schedules and sealed the deal via video conferencing, according a DAPA spokeswoman.

"I express deep gratitude for the contributions of the domestic defense industry to the national economy and security," Eom said. "Our government promises to guarantee that our defense industry's firms can maximize their export efforts."

"Following our previous meeting in October, when we discussed the basic outline of the deal, we confirmed some details today, including the quantity, price and time of delivery," an official from Hanwha said. "This led us to ship Chunmoo to Europe for the first time."

The defense ministry also said that Korea's weapons exports this year were the result of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's "strong will to improve the country's national defense industry as a strategic sector to spur the growth of future competitiveness."

"It was the outcome of our domestic weapons developers' superb production capabilities to make and deliver products to their clients on time, our military's unwavering support, and the supreme quality of our weapons that have been proven by the long history of Seoul-Washington joint military exercises," said an official from the ministry.

The ministry added that the latest deal will further strengthen Korea's alliance with Europe and, at the same time, promote Korea's weapons manufacturing capability to the world. The two countries said they will boost defense cooperation by jointly developing and producing weapons for other countries.