Dr. Csaba Hende Prepared an Agreement on Secrecy Protection in Seoul

Dr. Csaba Hende told MTI by phone that his talks with Kim Kwan-jin covered current security and defence policy issues. They saw eye to eye on international security policy, including the situation of the Korean Peninsula as well as the situation of the wider Asia and Pacific region and the Middle East, he added.

“South Korea is an exceptionally important partner for Hungary because one of the basic pillars of Hungary’s policy of opening up to the East is the continual strengthening and building of relations with the Far East," the Minister stressed. He has pointed out, that the South Korean firms have already invested in Hungary in a value of more than two billion dollars so far, and created over twenty thousand jobs.

The Minister emphasised: “We are interested in widening the political and economic cooperation, and in the multilateral relations, where we can take a stand in accordance with the democratic system of values and in harmony with the interests of our two countries." He added: “Hungary has expressed that it supports the unification policy of South Korea, and it stands for the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula." He observed: “The soldiers of Hungary and South Korea jointly serve in Afghanistan, and also in the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. Both countries are present with similar military strength in the international operations."

Answering the question how the agreement on secrecy protection and the cooperation in defence industry would determine the direction in the bilateral relations in the future, Dr. Csaba Hende stated: “South Korea – arising from its specific situation – has an extremely powerful army – 600 thousand troops – and a very significant defence industry. Ninety percent of its military equipment is homemade.

“Hungary has mostly forty-year old or even older obsolete Soviet military equipment and defence technology, which will be withdrawn from service in the next ten years, one after the other. We have to ensure their replacement." Further to the financing of this project, and the plans of the Ministry leadership concerning this issue, Dr. Csaba Hende has pointed out that the Government of the present day undertook a guarantee that from 2016 onward they will secure a continuously increasing budget contingent for the defence area, from which the replacements are feasible.

“Obviously, we are looking for solutions, where first of all the domestic production will be favoured on basis of licence or in other ways, as this would cost much less than the procurement from abroad. On the other hand, even the full modernisation of the twenty thousand strong Hungarian Defence Forces (HDF) is considered a small market in fact" – the Minister said.

Dr. Csaba Hende is the first Hungarian Minister of Defence, who conducted official talks in South Korea. He even participated on a unit-visit at one of the training bases of the special operational forces, where he could witness the extremely high-level preparedness of the South Korean troops.

The Minister will continue his tour of duty of the Far East in Mongolia, and then he travels to China.