South Korea's Defence Agency for Technology and Quality (DTaQ) and Finland's Ministry of Defence signed a government quality assurance memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Helsinki on 11 September 2026, the Korean embassy in Finland said.
Under the agreement, the government of the exporting country will carry out quality assurance on defence goods traded between the two states on behalf of the importing government. Both sides will mutually recognise the results.
The MoU follows other recent defence-industrial engagement between the two countries: Finnish satellite company ICEYE set up a South Korean subsidiary in June 2026 and signed a memorandum with Seoul National University on joint research, previously reported on by NDS.
DTaQ President Shin Sangbum travelled to Finland to sign the MoU. South Korean Ambassador Jaewoong Lee attended the ceremony. He had met Shin the day before to discuss the agreement and broader Korea-Finland defence-industry cooperation.
Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen said the MoU derives from Finland's purchase of K9 armoured howitzers from South Korea and helps "guarantee the quality of technological development in the defence materiel sector." Democratic countries "must work together to strengthen our ability to counter the threat posed by authoritarian regimes," he said.
Finland has bought K9 howitzers from South Korea since 2017. In April 2026 it signed a €546.8 million follow-up contract for 112 more K9 units, bringing its total order past 200 vehicles, also reported on by NDS.
