Korea and Turkey agreed Monday to strengthen cooperation in the areas of defense and the arms industry and push to sign a military deal as part of such efforts, the defense ministry said.
Korean Vice Defense Minister Shin Beom-chul and his Turkish counterpart, Alpaslan Kavaklioglu, said the two sides will ink the agreement on the protection of classified military information at an appropriate time in the future after concluding domestic procedures. No specific time frame was given.
“As brother countries, the two countries are actively carrying out their strategic partnership in the area of defense through robust defense and arms industry cooperation,” Shin was quoted as saying by the ministry.
Turkey dispatched a total of 21,212 troops to Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. Among them, 741 were killed in action, according to Korean data.
Kavaklioglu was in Seoul to attend a ceremony marking the 75th founding anniversary of Korea’s armed forces.
Korea celebrates Armed Forces Day on Oct. 1. This year, a large-scale military parade will take place in Seoul on Tuesday, the first such event in 10 years.
The vice ministers shared the view of further bolstering defense exchange and cooperation. They also agreed to continue developing forward-looking and mutually beneficial cooperation among defense companies of their countries, such as the development of Turkish Altay tanks.
In 2008, Turkey signed a contract with Hyundai Rotem, the Korean manufacturer of the K2 Black Panther battle tank, for technology transfer.
Source: The Korean Times
