Korean Update On Secretary Fuhr And Friends Trip To Korea (including photos!)

Noah Note

Yonhap News and Reporter Kim Bo-kyung have released some late night notes on Minister Fuhr's trip to Korea, and well as some nice photos of everyone at the yard. Credit to them for this report, which we will provide in translation though as always go check them out:

Canadian Minister of Defence Procurement Stephen Fuhr, who is in charge of procurement for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP), worth up to 60 trillion won, visited Hanwha Ocean's Geoje plant on the morning of the 2nd.

Minister Fuhr, along with approximately 30 Canadian government and business officials, toured the assembly plant at Hanwha Ocean's Geoje plant and inspected production automation equipment utilizing welding robots.

Hanwha Ocean reported that officials from major Canadian shipyards, including Ontario Shipyard and Irving Shipyard, also joined the visit, emphasizing the significance of cooperation in the shipbuilding and marine sectors between the two countries.

Minister Fuhr boarded the Jang Yeong-sil submarine during its sea trials and personally confirmed the submarine's excellence.

Hanwha Ocean's key executives, including CEO Kim Hee-chul, and government officials, including Vice Minister of National Defense Lee Du-hee, personally guided the Jang Yeong-sil ship.

"It was a great experience," Minister Fuhr said after boarding the submarine. "The internal technology was amazing."

Ted Kirkpatrick, Vice President of Ontario Shipyards, who accompanied Minister Fuhr, said, "Building on the impressive capabilities and track record we've seen at Hanwha Ocean's Geoje Shipyard, we're excited to explore how we can effectively leverage Ontario Shipyards' facilities and workforce." Jean-François Seguin, Vice President of Irving Shipy ards, said, "This visit to Hanwha Ocean has been a valuable opportunity to understand the company's role in maximizing the success of the Canadian submarine industry."

After boarding the Jang Yeong-sil, he also toured the construction site of the follow-up submarine, where construction is underway. He reportedly expressed great interest in Hanwha Ocean's submarine production capabilities and advanced manufacturing technology.

Minister Fuhr is the chief executive officer responsible for coordinating the Canadian government's defence procurement policy.

In large-scale projects such as CPSP, the role is to represent the government and externally explain the strategic necessity, industry participation, and alliance cooperation messages.

In particular, Hanwha Ocean reported that he is practically leading the CPSP by managing and supervising the Defence Investment Agency, which was newly established by the Canadian government last year to comprehensively reorganize and accelerate the military procurement system.

On this day, Hanwha Ocean also explained to Minister Fuhr, who had just finished visiting the business site, its industrial cooperation plan with local Canadian companies related to CPSP.

On the 26th of last month (local time), Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha Systems signed a memorandum of understanding for strategic investment and cooperation with five Canadian companies in the steel, AI, and space sectors to win the CPSP project.

In addition, Hanwha Ocean is supporting the Canadian government's 'Buy Canadian' policy by signing more than 10 business agreements (MOUs) with Canadian companies.

Hanwha Ocean CEO Kim Hee-chul said, "I believe Minister Fuhr's visit to Korea is an on-site inspection and review of the CPSP project proposed by Hanwha Ocean," adding, "Hanwha Ocean emphasized that it is not only providing the optimal solution to the Canadian Navy, but also a partner that will grow together with Canadian industry."

The minister and his delegation also visited the Jinhae Naval Submarine Command that day to check the Navy's education and training system and submarine maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facilities, and toured the K2 tank production facility at the Hyundai Rotem factory in Changwon.

Minister Fuhr is scheduled to visit the HD Hyundai Global R&D Center (GRC) in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province on the 4th.

Minister Fuhr is expected to tour models of HD Hyundai's future ships, submarines, frigates, and unmanned surface vehicles, and visit the Digital Convergence Center and Digital Control Center within the GRC.

HD Hyundai, which is working with Hanwha Ocean as a team to win the CPSP order, also proposed a shipbuilding and energy cooperation worth trillions of won to Canada on the 27th of last month.

Part of Hanwha’s strategy is revealed a bit here, though I think we'll talk about that after. For the moment, we are getting some basic info out of the Korea trip. I expect we will get more tomorrow; maybe I'll try to get some quotes from the folks attending tomorrow or Tuesday, getting their thoughts about the trip.

​We'll see! For now, consider this the first words coming out of the scene.