Hong Nampyo, Changwon Special City Mayor, Actively Engages in K-Defense Sales

Deputy Minister of Defense of Poland and Senior Officials of the Defense Acquisition Agency
Meet to Boost Sales Efforts

Changwon City in Gyeongnam announced on the 25th that a Polish defense delegation led by Pawel Bejda, Deputy Minister of Defense of Poland, visited Hyundai Rotem and Hanwha Aerospace located in Changwon. In particular, Hanwha Aerospace signed a contract for the Chunmoo EC2 with Poland.

Changwon Special City Mayor Hong Nampyo Meets with Polish Deputy Minister of National Defense for K-Defense Sales.

On the same day, Hong Nam-pyo, Mayor of Changwon, met with 21 senior officials from the Polish Ministry of Defense and the Military Procurement Agency, including Pawel Bejda, Deputy Minister of Defense, and Marcin Kulasek, Deputy Minister of State Assets, to support defense sales.

Since 2022, Poland has become a key partner in Korea’s defense industry through contracts worth a total of $44.2 billion for K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers, FA-50 fighter jets, and Chunmoo multiple launch rocket systems.

Since taking office in the 8th term of civilian administration, Mayor Hong has continuously strengthened ties with Poland.

In September last year, Mayor Hong attended MSPO 2023, Poland’s largest defense exhibition where South Korea was selected as the lead country. At that time, he met with Polish President Andrzej Duda and the chairman of PGZ, Poland’s largest state-owned defense company, to promote Changwon as a core city of K-defense.

Also in September last year, he established a friendship cooperation agreement with the city of Poznan, where WZM, a local production consortium contractor of Hyundai Rotem, is located, aiming to expand exchanges and cooperation from defense industry to civilian sectors. Above all, he focused on building an all-around network and defense diplomacy to help local defense companies target the European market.

Group photo.

In response, Jacek Jaskowiak, who was elected for a third term as mayor, visited Changwon at the end of January this year. It was a meaningful time to reaffirm friendly cooperation between the two cities.

Mayor Hong met with the Deputy Minister of Defense of Poland and other senior officials to promote Changwon’s status as a forward base of K-defense and to reaffirm the deep ties with Poland.

Pawel Bejda, Deputy Minister of Defense of Poland, said, “On behalf of the Polish Minister of Defense, I would like to express my gratitude. South Korea’s outstanding technology will greatly contribute to strengthening Poland’s defense.”

Mayor Hong said, “I thank the Polish guests who visited Changwon, the home of South Korea’s defense industry. We will do our best to ensure that defense weapons system contracts between Korea and Poland are successfully implemented.”

He added, “Going forward, Changwon City will serve as a foothold for defense industry exchanges between South Korea and Poland.”