South Korea's lead-nation MSPO 2017 defense exhibition Poland.

Until now, MSPO has been the stage to present the gear and equipment of: Germany, France, Israel, the USA, Sweden, the V4 Member Countries, Great Britain, Italy, Turkey and Norway. This year Targi Kielce will host representatives of South Korea's Ministry of Defence and the 14 companies. Korea's Minister of DefenceSung Yung Mo has announced his presence at the expo.

Booth of South Korean defense industry

Half a century ago South Korea did not produce anyweapons and armaments. The military gear for Korean armed forces was mainly imported from the United States. The firstdefence-industry plants were created as late as the 1970s, owing to the support of the Americans. Over the next several decades South Korea has created a modern arms and defence industry which is able to meet most of armed forces' needs, starting from light weapons through missiles. Koreans produce armoured and artillery equipment, includingtanks, infantry fighting vehicles andself-propelled howitzers of their own design. The chassis of the latter are used with Polish Krabs.

South Korea however does not limited its activities to armamentsand military equipment production for their own army needs. Korean companies are very efficient in the global arms markets and gain more and more contracts. South Korea has reported a gigantic increase in armaments exports – from $ 144 million in 2002 to $ 3.5 billion in 2014. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, South Korea's arms sales in the period from 2012 to 2016 has secured 13th position in the ranking of the world's largest exporters.