2024-02-13 14:57 update: 2024-02-13, 21:33
Photo: PAP/EPA/KIM HEE-CHUL
Poland's defence minister has said procurement contracts with South Korea for K2 tanks and K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers will be carried out.
Speaking on private TV channel Polsat News on Tuesday, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said of the contracts: "I would like the financing rules to be acceptable to us. In this matter there has already been a reaction from the Koreans. However the contracts that were concluded with Korea will still be realised."
The statement was an indirect reference to accusations voiced by the former ruling party, Law and Justice (PiS), that the new governing coalition was going to backtrack on the previous government's commitments to strengthen Poland's armed forces.
Kosiniak-Kamysz used the opportunity to accuse PiS of breaking contracts, adding that "we won't make such mistakes."
He was referring to the cancellation of a contract for the delivery of French military helicopters by PiS soon after it took power in 2015, which chilled Polish-French relations.
Addressing PiS, he said that the contracts would be honoured "as long as there are no extraordinary circumstances regarding financing."
On the subject of the Polish armed forces' planned troop numbers, Kosiniak-Kamysz said they would be increased steadily.
"At the end of this year, our army will number about 220,000 soldiers," he said. "That number will be raised every year."
He added that while the number of soldiers was important, it was no more important than operational capacities or civil defence.
The previous government planned to increase the size of the Polish armed forces to 300,000 service people, including regular troops and a volunteer territorial defence force. (PAP)
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