Assembly Speaker Cho Jung-sik: Croatia's Chunmoo Acquisition Is 'Meaningful Progress'

Visiting Croatia, National Assembly Speaker Cho Jung-sik on October 9 local time evaluated Croatia's acquisition of South Korea's Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher system as "meaningful progress showing that trust between the two countries is developing into substantive cooperation."

Cho made the remarks during a joint press conference with Gordan Jandroković, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, held at the parliament building in the capital city of Zagreb on the same day, saying, "I hope this goes beyond the mere introduction of a weapon system and leads to industrial and technological cooperation based on long-term trust and reciprocity."

He said, "We agreed to provide parliamentary-level support so that the two countries' 'comprehensive and future-oriented partnership' can be implemented in a way that contributes to the tangible well-being of our citizens," citing economy and infrastructure, defense and the defense industry, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges as the three major areas of cooperation.

Cho continued, "We seek to further broaden the horizons of economic cooperation," stressing that "combining South Korea's manufacturing, shipbuilding, automotive, information and communication technology, and smart infrastructure technologies with Croatia's geopolitical advantages and port and logistics network will create new cooperation opportunities."

In particular, noting Croatia's policy to become an energy hub based on the Adriatic Sea, he said, "I hope that specific ways of bilateral cooperation will be explored in the process of building railway and transportation infrastructure, as well as ports, including the Port of Rijeka."

He also added, "The force that sustains relations between nations the longest is ultimately the friendship between their peoples," and expressed hope that "active exchanges in tourism and culture will expand into continuous exchanges among youth, students, researchers, and artists."

Speaker Jandroković announced that he was invited by Cho to visit South Korea, saying, "I gladly accepted.

As many meetings are taking place at the government and ministerial levels, as representatives of the people, we also wish to further develop bilateral parliamentary relations."

During the meeting, Jandroković said, "Although we are geographically far apart, we attach great importance to strengthening relations with South Korea."

He also expressed willingness during a luncheon to cooperate with South Korea on projects to modernize the air force and navy, to which Cho responded by stating that South Korea possesses outstanding missile defense systems and related assets, according to the National Assembly Speaker's office.

On this overseas trip, Cho was accompanied by Democratic Party lawmakers Han Jeoung-ae and Hwang Hee, and People Power Party lawmakers Choi Hyung-du and Kang Min-kuk, among others.
 
(Photo courtesy of the National Assembly Speaker's Office, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.