US Defense Industry Concerned As Europe Turns To South Korea For Weapons

The increase in arms supplies to Europe from South Korea is raising concerns in the United States defense industry, the Politico newspaper reported on Wednesday.

A number of Eastern European countries have stepped up purchases of weapons from South Korea in the last few months to replenish their stocks after months of sending their own equipment to Ukraine, the report said. According to the newspaper, the appeal for states that usually buy weapons from the US lies in the fact that Seoul can make deliveries much faster and more cheaply.

Despite the fact that South Korean defense companies have worked with European countries before, selling mobile howitzers and small arms, these previous, modest contracts pale in comparison with the arms supply agreements that Poland signed with South Korean firms this summer and autumn, the newspaper noted. Other European countries are reportedly expected to follow Warsaw's example.

"There is concern from U.S. industry that this won't stop with Poland," one of the sources working with the US defense companies told Politico.