<Anchor>
The Polish Deputy Prime Minister's plan to visit Korea, who was going to attend a ceremony for the delivery of tanks and self-propelled guns to be exported to Poland, suddenly collapsed.
It is said that it is because China has blocked the private plane of the deputy prime minister and his party from passing through Chinese airspace.
<Reporter>
The Polish defense delegation, consisting of 21 people, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Mariusi Włashchak, Deputy Minister of Defense, and Director of the Armed Forces Agency, was scheduled to visit Korea by private plane on the 17th.
But China caught on.
China's airspace is included in the shortest direct route from Poland to Korea, but it is reported that China refused to pass the Polish plane.
There is a route that bypasses Chinese airspace, but the flight distance increases, so landing for refueling is inevitable in the middle.
A government official said, "Among the private planes owned by the Polish government, the trip to Korea itself was canceled because the round trip time was too long for the planes currently available."
China's blocking of Polish aircraft from passing through airspace is interpreted as a reaction against Poland's recent pro-Taiwan policy, such as signing a semiconductor development cooperation agreement with Taiwan, and China's pro-Russian actions.
[Kim Yong-deok/Professor of Polish Department, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies: I think that China is probably on the side of Russia when Poland purchases Korea's defense weapons on a large scale in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.]
As the Polish defense delegation's visit to South Korea was canceled by China's Monniro, the face-to-face meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Włashchak and Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop was replaced by a video conference.
Also, today's export ceremony for the K2 tank and K9 self-propelled howitzer will be held without Polish customers.
A government official said that as trust with Poland is strong, K-Defense's export plan to Poland will be carried out without any setbacks.