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Korea-Finland defense ministerial meeting held on the sidelines of the 13th Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD)

Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun held a bilateral meeting with Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen on the sidelines of the 13th Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) held in Seoul on the morning of September 11 (Wednesday) and discussed the regional security situation including the Korean Peninsula and ways to promote defense, the defense industry and technology.

 

Minister Kim said the security interdependence between Asia and Europe has deepened amid an increasingly unstable international security environment, and supported Finland’s decision to abandon its long-standing position of neutrality and join NATO as its 31st member in April 2023.

 

Minister Häkkänen shared the understanding that the international security environment has become more serious with closer ties between Russia and North Korea following the Russia-Ukraine war, and expressed the hope to expand defense and military industry cooperation with South Korea, a defense industry power with advanced technology.

 

Minister Kim noted the development of defense industry cooperation with Finland with the export of K9 self-propelled howitzers to Finland in 2017 and urged further strengthening of bilateral defense ties.

* Since it signed the first K9 purchase contract in 2017, Finland has purchased a total of 96 units of K9 self-propelled howitzers in three subsequent option contracts in November 2021, March 2022, and December 2022.

 

The two ministers noted the military exchanges between Russia and North Korea and reaffirmed bilateral ties, and agreed to further strengthen mutually beneficial defense cooperation between Korea and Finland, which share universal values such as freedom, human rights and a market economy.

 

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  • (Presentation and Follow-on discussion)