Polish ambassador highlights how Korean arsenal of democracy silenced skepticism in Warsaw
Published: 14 Apr. 2026, 20:22
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- SEO JI-EUN
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![Polish Ambassador to Korea Bartosz Wisniewski speaks during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily on the outcome of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's two-day visit and the direction of bilateral defense industry cooperation at the Polish Embassy in central Seoul on April 14. [PARK SANG-MOON]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/04/14/00f4384c-248a-4e50-9cc6-6dcda9e1630d.jpg)
Polish Ambassador to Korea Bartosz Wisniewski speaks during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily on the outcome of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's two-day visit and the direction of bilateral defense industry cooperation at the Polish Embassy in central Seoul on April 14. [PARK SANG-MOON]
[INTERVIEW]
When Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk came into office, questions lingered whether the preceding administration had rushed into opaque, debt-laden arms contracts with Korea. Polish Ambassador to Korea Bartosz Wisniewski put those concerns firmly to rest and let Poland’s military speak for itself.
“The ultimate judgment on this [depends on] our military,” Wisniewski told the Korea JoongAng Daily in an exclusive interview at the Embassy of Poland in Seoul on Tuesday. “And our military says we are happy with this equipment. We know how to use it, it’s reliable [and] it arrived on time — that’s very important, and that’s what matters.”
In 2022, Korea and Poland signed a $44.2 billion framework agreement, which includes the export of Korea’s K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers, FA-50 light attack aircraft and Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers to Poland.
Wisniewski’s remarks came one day after the two nations agreed to elevate their bilateral relationship to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” during the first visit by a Polish prime minister to Seoul in 27 years.
![Korean President Lee Jae Myung, right, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk toast during their official luncheon after their summit at the Blue House in central Seoul on April 13. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/04/14/0f79d168-46b0-4fe1-ab65-f9f9fa5ceb0a.jpg)
Korean President Lee Jae Myung, right, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk toast during their official luncheon after their summit at the Blue House in central Seoul on April 13. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
The urgency of the partnership is etched into a single date: the first phone call between President Lee Jae Myung and Tusk on Sept. 11, 2025, one day after a swarm of Russian drones violated Polish airspace.
“It showed that we are living in a war zone — not a shooting war, but we cannot be naive about what Russia is intending to do,” Wisniewski recalled. “Russia is testing us.”
Against that backdrop, South Korea’s track record speaks for itself.
Defense industry cooperation between Seoul and Warsaw predates the current crisis — the first such partnership dates back to 2014 — but 2022 proved the true value behind the two countries’ relationship, when North Korean troops were deployed to the Ukraine war, directly helping Russia wage war on Poland's doorstep.
“Korea was there to provide [help] when we needed it,” Wisniewski said.
Today, Poland operates South Korean tanks, howitzers and rocket launchers, and it will soon possess Korean fighter jets as well. That logistical reliability has transformed Korea into what Tusk now calls “Poland’s most important ally after the United States.”
According to a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in March, Korea held a 3 percent share of the global arms market between 2021 and 2025, ranking ninth worldwide. Poland accounted for 58 percent of South Korea’s total arms exports during that period.
“People are asking, 'Why are we spending so much on defense?’” Wisniewski said. “Well, I would reverse this question: Can we afford not to? I don’t think we can.”
The partnership is now moving well past procurement. What Wisniewski calls “stage 2" encompasses technology transfers, joint production and co-development for third-country markets and extends into AI, microchips and space exploration. He framed it as genuinely reciprocal.
“It’s not going to be a one-sided road; it’s going to be two-directional,” he emphasized. “Our defense industry also has something to offer in terms of unmanned systems and [...] radar technology.”
The goal, he added, is a “new quality” of partnership: jointly developed systems that are neither strictly Korean nor strictly Polish but something new that could serve as a model for others.
Closer to home, supply chains remain a vulnerability.
With 8,000 kilometers (4,971 miles) separating the two nations, South Korea and Poland are pivoting toward “Polonization” of production.
“We cannot afford to have almost 400 K2 tanks standing without proper maintenance,” the Polish prime minister said. “We are facing a very aggressive opponent. It has to be battle-ready."
The summit also produced economic deliverables.
Lee committed to accelerating the import of Polish beef — a process that has been stalled for more than two decades.
“We are not going to export beef to the extent that it is going to be any kind of competition for your producers,” Wisniewski said. “Korean beef is unique, and its quality is absolutely top of the world. Let [Korean consumers] decide [which is] better, worse, tasty, not tasty. Having a wider choice is always a plus.”
Poland’s role as a significant helium producer also positions it as a potential strategic supplier for South Korea’s semiconductor industry amid ongoing instabilities around the Strait of Hormuz.
Beyond hardware and trade, the visit was defined by "personal chemistry" between the two leaders, rooted in their shared pasts as defenders of the rule of law — Tusk as a Solidarity activist jailed for his anti-communist resistance, and Lee as a former human rights lawyer.
When Tusk used the term “personally exemplary” to describe his Korean counterpart, he was paying tribute to how the Korean constitutional order held firm during and after ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law attempt in December 2024, according to the Polish ambassador.
“I was there in the room," Wisniewski said of the Lee-Tusk talks. "They just like each other.”
![Polish Ambassador to Korea Bartosz Wisniewski poses for a photo during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the Polish Embassy in Seoul on April 14. [PARK SANG-MOON]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/04/14/43feb69c-2a61-4635-a6cc-f54b22942fe8.jpg)
Polish Ambassador to Korea Bartosz Wisniewski poses for a photo during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the Polish Embassy in Seoul on April 14. [PARK SANG-MOON]
Wisniewski also shared that Tusk was "particularly proud" of having featured Korean pianist Lim Dong-hyek performing works by Polish composer Frédéric Chopin at the 2018 Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit Gala Dinner during his tenure as president of the European Council, calling it his own idea.
"The prime minister took a walk through the city center in Seoul and was positively surprised by the number of Polish tourists he met, and very happy to have met his compatriots so far from home," the ambassador added.
Tusk extended a formal invitation for Lee to visit Poland, and both sides spoke of their nations as “champions of growth,” bound by a partnership built on a simple yet powerful foundation: keeping promises.
BY SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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