Arms agency chief visits Sweden to discuss defense industry cooperation

SEOUL, April 2 (Yonhap) -- The head of the state arms procurement agency visited Sweden earlier this week to discuss arms industry cooperation with senior officials in the European nation, his office said Wednesday.

Seok Jong-gun, minister of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), met with Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson on Monday for talks on Sweden's rearmament plan, bilateral high-level exchanges and other issues, according to DAPA.

During his visit, Seok also held talks with Goran Martensson, director-general of Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration, to introduce South Korean weapons systems, such as the M-SAM II air defense system and Chunmoo multiple rocket launch system, it said.

Both sides agreed to push for joint research and development to apply artificial intelligence, robotics and space technologies to the arms industry and hold in-depth discussions in another meeting this year.

"DAPA plans to continuously strengthen cooperation with member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) so that the K-defense industry can carve out new opportunities from Europe's rearmament plan," Seok said.

Sweden officially joined NATO in March last year after applying for a membership in 2022 following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.

mlee@yna.co.kr
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