South Korea's Ministry of Defence (MOD) has promised to continue its existing defence manufacturing cooperation with Poland even after a local shipbuilder was unable to secure a contract to supply new submarines to the Polish Navy, Yonhap News Agency reports.
Hanwha Ocean had earlier proposed to build variants of the KSS-III diesel-electric boats for Poland. However, Warsaw announced on Wednesday that Sweden's Saab has instead been selected for the manufacture of three submarines as part of the Orka program.
MOD Spokesperson Lee Kyung-ho said in a press briefing that, "large-scale arms industry cooperation is under way with Poland," and that the ministry, "will continue to maintain and strengthen such cooperation."
Under the cooperation, Poland will continue to acquire South Korean arms including self-propelled artillery pieces, main battle tanks, and supersonic light attack aircraft.
Manufacturers from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and the UK had also submitted offers to the Polish Government for the Orka submarine program.
