South Korea and Poland President Agree to Cooperation in Nuclear Energy and Defense
These seems like a good bet by South Korea to increase economic cooperation with the growing Eastern European power, Poland as well as prepare to help with the rebuilding of Ukraine when the war is over:
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and Polish President Andrzej Duda pose for a photo during their summit talks at the presidential palace in Warsaw on July 13, 2023. (Yonhap)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that he and Polish President Andrzej Duda discussed strategic cooperation in nuclear energy, arms and infrastructure and agreed the two countries are “optimal partners” for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Yoon made the remark during a joint press briefing following a summit with Duda, noting the two countries have already made large strides in their strategic partnership established in 2013, with bilateral trade reaching a record US$9 billion last year and South Korea becoming a key investor in Poland.
“We noted South Korean businesses’ expansion into cutting-edge industries in Poland, such as electric vehicle batteries and 5G networks, and agreed to work together to secure a future growth engine for both countries,” he said during the briefing at the presidential palace.
Yoon said he and Duda agreed that nuclear energy development is the optimal means to achieve both energy security and carbon neutrality, and to actively support cooperation between the two countries’ businesses for the successful construction of nuclear power plants in Poland.
He also said the two leaders agreed to work harder to ensure mutually beneficial cooperation in the defense industry following Poland’s purchases of 20 trillion won (US$15.6 billion) worth of K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers and FA-50 fighters from South Korea last year.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Now with Korean tanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrhE3TlyXU8
The problem is everybody supplying tanks knows they are going to be used incorrectly and will wind up in a smoking pile like the Leopards in Bradley Square.
Germany got pressured into this… primarily because Germans are some of the stupidest cucks currently in Europe.
Germans are to Nazis what Italians are to Romans… or the French are to the French of 1066… or Africans are to… uh… maybe the Africans who discovered fire.
Anyway, America is smart about this.
“Yeah! Abrams are coming! Just gotta get them tuned up… and crews trained up… and a repair station set up… and… uh… so… yeah… 2025… or… so! Then you can… uh.. victory and such.”
Koreans are pretty smart, too. Korea wants to be a global supplier of high quality, low price, good value tanks… and that won’t happen by giving them to people who will drive them through a minefield without air support against an entrenched enemey with pre-aimed artillary.
Ukrainians are so tactically stupid it must be intentional.
Soooo… let’s see what Korea does.
We are going to learn a lot about Korea by watching how they manage this.
It’s interesting that Poland has picked South Korea as the most important partner for its economy, military, and technology. They did not pick NATO, namely Germany and France. After they’re done, Poland will be the most powerful army in the EU. There are also 600 South Korean companies operating in Poland, including industries for EV batteries, semiconductors, nuclear plants, and military, and now talks about partnerships extending to hydrogen technology. All these are offered by South Korea to Poland. If all goes according to their plan, Poland will be the leading manufacturing power in Western Europe – dominating all the future industries (batteries, nuclear, military, hydrogen, semiconductors), while the uppity French and Germans are left in the dust with yesterday’s old economies. This is why Poland is smart. They are humble, and willing to learn (unlike some other countries which I won’t name, who only want to just take everything from Korea by force and intimidation) .
In 20 years, Poland, Turkey, and Japan will be the regional powers.
Poland will be a created power as western money is dumped in, Turkey will end this brief moment in history where it is not a regional power, and a remilitarized Japan will start looking to secure resources.
Korea can be a successful supplier of military equipment to all sides, if they play their politics right.
@Korean Man, to me it makes sense for a rising nation like Poland to look to South Korea on how to achieve an advanced manufacturing economy. Like Chickenhead said Poland could become a future regional power that is being accelerated by the Russo-Ukraine War.
The weak point of manufacturing Poland into a (controllable) regional power is… well… they are Polish.
Although the art of the Polack joke has been in steady decline since the 70s, it doesn’t mean the fundamentals have disappeared.
In a story that will seem familiar to Koreans, a big handicap is the Polish understandable-but-irrational hatered of Russia…
…to the point they will engage in real-world self-sabotage for purely rhetorical victories.
But this makes them a willing tool, for the fading western governments and the rising multinationals, to counter the contrived threat of Eastasia… er… Russia… which we have always been at war with… or something.
…and while it may end in their eventual ruin, it will accelerate the positive short-term economic trends. Even now, young people in Poland live better than young people in the UK.
Though some credit goes to Poland having their head on straight about just how much of a strength diversity really is.
Poland and Korea have had a long technical relationship… and it is growing (such as Europe’s first kimchee factory). Polish people are (yet-to-be-focused) clever and Poland is the gateway to the first world EU market with Warsaw Ghetto expenses.
Let’s see where this goes.
Note: NATO clearly wants no direct war with Russia. But the plan to destroy Ukraine in exchange for wearing Russia out is not having the full effect they wanted.
Now with shady stuff going on in Belarus with whatever Wagner has transformed into, there could be some concern that a private military corporation with a convenient history of not being under state control could attack Poland… especially the staging areas filled with new weapons going to Ukraine.
What is NATO going to do against a private army? Article 5? Against?
Russia will just shake their head and make a sad face and say, “Yeah, we had the same problem. Good luck.”