SEOUL. Dec 18 (Interfax-AVN) - A permanent office of the South Korean military attache will be opened in Kyiv in August 2007 to coordinate military-industrial cooperation, Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko said.
He granted an interview following the Monday talks between the presidents of Ukraine and South Korea, Viktor Yushchenko and Roh Moo-hyun.
Hrytsenko said that South Korea's plans to open a permanent office of the military attache in Ukraine are an indication of the seriousness of its desire for military-technical cooperation.
He said the intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the defense industry and logistics signed at the end of the talks covers the operations of the Defense Ministry, the Industrial Policy Ministry and state-owned arms trader Ukrspetsexport.
Hrytsenko could not say how much the agreement would bring to Ukraine saying "it is a basic agreement without which further progress is impossible."
"It really opens up the possibility for cooperation between the defense industries. It will be possible to say whether it will be worth tens or hundreds of millions only after contracts are signed," he said. The two presidents agreed that a delegation of Korean experts would be formed shortly to visit Ukrainian munitions plants, conduct talks and come up with a program of action which the presidents of the two countries named as a political objective, he said.