Poland’s ex-defense chief pushes to max out South Korean arms deals

WARSAW, Poland — As the Polish Ministry of National Defence is locked in negotiations with South Korea’s government on weapon deliveries, accusing Seoul of offering “unacceptable” financial terms, Poland’s largest opposition party is calling on the new government here to contract for even more weapons from the Asian nation.

Former Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak, who is a lawmaker for the right-wing Law and Justice party and chairs its parliamentary faction, signed numerous deals to buy South Korean weapons worth billions of dollars while in office . The orders included FA-50 light attack aircraft, K9 howitzers, K2 Black Panther tanks, and K239 Chunmoo multi-barreled missile launchers. The politician believes the government should acquire the maximum number of units foreseen in the framework contracts.

“To date, we have signed executive contracts for the delivery of more than 200 K239 Chunmoo launchers, 48 FA-50 aircraft, more than 300 K9 howitzers, and nearly 200 K2 tanks. To fully execute the framework agreements we made with the Koreans, the current government should contract more K9s, K2s, and Chunmoos,” Błaszczak told Defense News in a statement. “My intention was also – and this was included in the framework agreements – that Korean tanks and howitzers should ultimately be produced in Poland.”

Calling the deals “an extraordinary opportunity,” Błaszczak took a swing at his successor at the Ministry of Defence, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, saying the department had yet to articulate “clear declarations” in favor of additional arms purchases.

Earlier this week, Kosiniak-Kamysz, who is also the deputy prime minister, told local broadcaster Polsat News “the contracts which were concluded, under which gear is being delivered to Poland, yes, they will be continued.”

The statement leaves room for forgoing additional weapons buys that were to financed by a second, larger loan issues by the Asian country.

Upon taking office in December, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced there was a “problem” with the loan terms, as decision-makers started to scrutinize the preceding Cabinet’s military acquisitions.

At the same time, South Korean officials are bracing for the April 10 parliamentary election, and the campaign is delaying legislative work necessary for the provision of a second loan to Warsaw, local observers say.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——波兰国防部正与韩国政府就武器交付问题进行谈判，并指责首尔方面提供的财务条款“不可接受”。与此同时，波兰最大的反对党呼吁新政府从这个亚洲国家采购更多武器。

前国防部长马里乌什·布瓦什恰克是右翼法律与公正党的议员，也是该党议会党团主席。他在任期间签署了多项价值数十亿美元的韩国武器采购协议，其中包括FA-50轻型攻击机、K9榴弹炮、K2“黑豹”坦克和K239“天武”多管导弹发射器。这位政治家认为，政府应该按照框架合同的规定，采购最大数量的武器装备。

“迄今为止，我们已签署了交付200多套K239‘天武’火箭炮、48架FA-50战斗机、300多门K9榴弹炮和近200辆K2坦克的执行合同。为了全面履行我们与韩国达成的框架协议，现任政府应该订购更多的K9、K2和‘天武’火箭炮，”布瓦什恰克在一份声明中告诉《防务新闻》。“我的意图是——这一点也包含在框架协议中——韩国的坦克和榴弹炮最终应该在波兰生产。”

布瓦什恰克称这些交易是“一个非凡的机会”，并抨击了他的继任者、国防部长瓦迪斯瓦夫·科西尼亚克-卡米什，称国防部尚未就增加武器采购发表“明确的声明”。

本周早些时候，同时也是副总理的科西尼亚克-卡米什告诉当地广播公司Polsat News，“已经签订的合同，根据这些合同向波兰交付设备，是的，这些合同将会继续执行。”

该声明为放弃额外购买武器留出了空间，而这些武器原本将由该亚洲国家发行的第二笔更大规模的贷款来提供资金。

12 月上任后，波兰总理唐纳德·图斯克宣布贷款条款存在“问题”，因为决策者开始审查前任内阁的军事采购情况。

与此同时，韩国官员正在为 4 月 10 日的国会选举做准备，当地观察人士表示，竞选活动正在拖延向华沙提供第二笔贷款所需的立法工作。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。