Senior officials of the Romanian government will visit the factories of Hanwha Aerospace (Hanwha Aero) and Hyundai Rotem during ADEX 2025, a domestic aerospace and defense exhibition. Romania decided last year to introduce Hanwha Aerospace's K9 self-propelled howitzers, drawing attention to whether it will additionally procure Korean weapons such as the K2 tank.
According to the government and military authorities on the 15th, Radu-Dinel Miruță, Romania's Minister of Economy, is scheduled to visit the factories of Hanwha Aerospace and Hyundai Rotem in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, on the 21st of this month. In addition to Minister Miruță, Vice Minister Iulian Cosmin Marzelloiu, Chief of Staff Ioana Alexandra Răduca, and Romania's Ambassador to Korea Cezar-Manole Armeanu will also join. They are expected to check the production processes of Korean-made ground weapons such as armored vehicles, in addition to the K9 self-propelled howitzer and the K2 tank.
Romania has already adopted Korea's weapons systems. Romania and Hanwha Aerospace signed a K9 self-propelled howitzer package contract in Jul. last year that includes 54 K9 self-propelled howitzers, 36 K10 ammunition resupply vehicles, and other equipment. The contract was valued at 1.3828 trillion won. Afterward, Hanwha Aerospace established a local subsidiary in Romania to localize operations, setting up a base for maintenance and repair of the K9 self-propelled howitzer, technical support, and local production.
Romania, which also visited Korea in Apr. last year, is, like Poland, a country on the front line of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). As the Russia-Ukraine war drags on, there is reportedly strong demand to modernize aging ground weapons.
Hyundai Rotem has begun localization in Poland. It is continuing preparatory work with Bumar, under the Polish state-owned defense company PGZ, to produce the Polish variant of the tank, the K2PL. This is part of a strategy to lower the threshold of the European Union (EU) defense bloc phenomenon that raises entry barriers for foreign defense companies. Once facility upgrades in Poland are completed, Hyundai Rotem plans to use the site as a base to meet demand across Europe.
The Romanian delegation is also expected to attend the ADEX opening ceremony on the 20th of this month. With South Korean military officials and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration also attending, discussions on defense cooperation between the two countries are expected to take place. An industry official said, "It is an opportunity for Korea's defense sector, which is concentrated only in Poland, to expand into other parts of Eastern Europe."