SEOUL, April 23 (Reuters) - South Korean and Romanian

leaders pledged on Tuesday to boost defence industry cooperation

as Seoul pushes to establish itself as the world's

fourth-largest arms exporter amid reports of huge additional

contracts in the works.

President Yoon Suk Yeol hosted his Romanian counterpart,

Klaus Iohannis, for a summit and pledged to increase cooperation

in the defence industry, including joint production of weapons,

a statement said.

South Korea's defence minister Shin Won-sik separately

hosted Poland's deputy defence minister, Pawel Bejda, amid

reports of an impending contract for Hanwha Aerospace to supply

additional weapons systems and negotiations over financing.

South Korea has emerged as a major player in global defence

exports, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine opening the door for

its industries to sign large-scale contracts from Europe, the

Middle East and Asia.

South Korea's major defence manufacturer, Hanwha Aerospace

, is working on a deal worth 1 trillion won ($725.7

million) to supply K9 howitzer to Romania in what would be the

first defence contract with that country, the Korea Economic

Daily reported this year.

Hanwha declined to comment on the report.

The company said during an earnings conference call in

February it would announce a weapons export deal with Romania in

the first quarter, but there was no announcement.

Last year the company signed a memorandum of understanding

with Romania's state-run defence company to export its K9

self-propelled howitzer and infantry fighting vehicle.

Poland, which has been ramping up defence spending, has

agreed to buy $22 billion worth of weapons from South Korea in

the country's largest ever arms sale.

On Tuesday, South Korea's Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported,

citing defence industry sources, that Poland would sign a

contract this week for 70 additional Chunmoo rocket artillery

units worth $1.6 billion to be supplied by Hanwha Aerospace.

Hanwha declined to comment on the Dong-a report.

The visit by the defence delegation from Warsaw comes as the

two countries have worked to expand South Korea's financing of

the weapons purchases. Statutory caps on credit to facilitate

such deals have acted as a constraint.

In February, South Korea's parliament voted to ease

restrictions on the state export financing bank, which could aid

in negotiations for the second phase of the deal with Poland,

sources have said.

Poland has already agreed to buy more than 150 K9 howitzers

for $2.6 billion and 288 Chunmoo rocket launchers. It has

separately agreed to buy K2 tanks manufactured by Hyundai Rotem

and fighter jets from Korea Aerospace Industries

.

($1 = 1,378.0700 won)