SEOUL, South Korea: South Korea has announced that it has signed a $1.6 billion arms deal with Egypt.
This marks South Korea’s largest-ever arms export contract.
The office of President Moon Jae-in in Seoul said the agreement included providing K9 self-propelled howitzers, manufactured by Korea’s Hanwha Defense, to Egypt.
Moon’s office did not disclose other details on the agreement, and there was no comment from Egypt.
The South Korean announcement came two weeks after Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sissi met with Moon in Cairo, which was the first visit by a South Korean president to Egypt in 16 years, according to the state-run al-Ahram newspaper.
Egyptian Defense Minister General Mohamed Zaki was in South Korea on February 1 to attend the signing ceremony, Egypt’s military said in a statement.
The Egyptian military also said South Korea and Egypt signed two memorandums of understanding on mutual military cooperation.
Egypt, one of the world’s leading arms importers, has in recent years upgraded its military, striking massive arms deals with Western nations and Russia.
However, the Biden administration said last week that it had canceled $130 million in military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns.
