Team Korea concludes three day trip to Ottawa, signs new MOU and LOI

Korea-Canada Defense and Defense Industry Cooperation Conference and Korea-Canada Defense Industry Roadshow headline week, Hanwha and HHI sign new MOUs with Canadian Industry.

Team Korea once again launched another multi-day diplomatic and industrial blitz in Ottawa from November 5th to 7th, the fourth or fifth of such rrips this year (and the biggest to date)

Led by Seok Jong-geon, the Administrator of South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the visit is the culmonation of almost a year of planning, capped off by the long-planned Canada-Korea Defence Roadshow, which TNSR was the first to report back in March.

This is the last such trio that will be held this year, potentially the last before a partner before CPSP selects it preferred partner. That means everything was on the table today. Diplomatic groundwork, a high-level defense conference, and the long-planned roadshow brought together officials across governments and Industry together for the first time.

The Week

TNSR previously reported on some of the efforts this week, inckuding the Korea-Canada Defense and Defense Industry Cooperation Conference the other day. We now have more info though about what happened.

On November 5th, Administrator Seok met with Canadian Senator Yuna Martin and visited the McDonald-Laurier Institute (MLI). These initial meetings were designed to gauge the political and policy environment, build support, and discuss strengthening the cooperative framework before any major announcements were made.

The following day, November 6th, the engagement escalated significantly with the “Korea-Canada Defense and Defense Industry Cooperation Conference”. This event was hosted by the Korean Ministry of National Defense. Key players from both nations were present, including Korean Vice Minister of National Defense Lee Doo-hee, who held a separate meeting with Secretary of State (Defence Procurement) Stephen Fuhr.

At this conference, DAPA’s Seok Jong-geon delivered a keynote address, framing the potential partnership as a chance to form a true Strategic Partnership. He emphasized that as "strategic partners who share freedom, democracy, and the rule of law," the two nations could "leap forward as an advanced defense technology alliance."

Secretary of State Fuhr had this to say about the event:

"Canada and South Korea share a deep friendship founded on mutual respect, shared democratic values, and a joint commitment to peace and prosperity.

Just last week, Prime Minister Carney and President Lee announced the Canada-Korea Security and Defence Cooperation Partnership, marking a new chapter in our long-standing relationship.

Today, I met with the Korean Delegation at the Korea-Canada Defence Conference, where we reaffirmed our shared vision for a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific through deeper cooperation in defence, industry, and innovation.

We will continue building on this momentum to create new opportunities for collaboration and growth between our countries.”

Vice Minister of National Defence Lee also held high-level talks with Canada's Deputy Minister of National Defence, Stefanie Beck, who previously visited Korea last month. He also met with David Perry, President of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI)

With the diplomatic and political groundwork laid, November 7th was focused on industry. DAPA co-hosted the "Korea-Canada Defense Industry Roadshow" with the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC). This event was the centerpiece of the visit, and one we have talked about extensively over the last year.

The Roadshow was originally announced as part of the 2025 South Korea-Canada Defense Industry Cooperation Plan set out at the 3rd Joint Meeting back in March with the hope of bringing together Canadian and Korean industry together in a neutral, closed space to discuss potential opportunities for cooperation.

DAPA’s Seok Jong-geon and CCC CEO Robert Kwon led the event, with CCC Deputy Director Kim Douglas and Korea's Defense Technology Advancement Agency Director Son Jae-hong in attendance. The event thoufh wasnt just an opportunity to meet. We also got several new agreements signed as part of the roadshow.

Hanwha signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with PCL. The agreement outlined PCLs role in the establishment of naval vessel maintenance and support infrastructure for CPSP. The establishment of maintenence facilities on both Coasts is a requirement that the potential partner will need to fulfill.

Not to be outdone, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries signed its own MOU with Celestica. This agreement is focused on building a local submarine Life Cycle Support (LCS) infrastructure. Its easy to forget that Hyundai is also on Team Korea, just as we joke about Kongsberg and TKMS. Both tend to be forgotten in these discussions, even though both would have a major role in executing on CPSP

These agreements officially push Team Korea to over 10 confirmed partners in Canadian industry for CPSP, granted, Hanwha also has other agreements in place for other projects but I try not to bring them up with CPSP, as they are earmarked for other things like IFM.

Funny enough, Kongsberg is both a major competitor in CPSP and a major partner in regards to Indirect Fire Modernization. Thats always funny to think about, at least for me.

The roadshow concluded with a capstone agreement. DAPA Administrator Seok Jong-geon and CCC CEO Robert Kwon signed a formal Letter of Intent (LOI) for “Strategic Cooperation in the Defence, Space, and Maritime Capabilities Sector."

The significance of this LOI was underscored by the presence of Canada's Minister of International Trade, Maninder Sidhu, who was in attendance for the signing of this new agreement.

This new LOI is a direct follow-up to the broader MOU on defense procurement signed in June 2024. It effectively "concretizes" that earlier, more general agreement, giving DAPA and the CCC a clear mandate to deepen cooperation in domains like maritime and space domains.

So caps off the last of many visits this year. Again there is a chance that the next of such events could not happen until after CPSP is done. Of course I believe the Germans still have another trip here planned? I don't know dates, but its planned for esrly next year st least.

So this might actually be the last trip overall, whoch is wild to rhink about. These kinds of trips though are great. They play a crucial role in alignment and relationship-building. Its easy to forget that many Canadian and Korean companies don't attend each others events.

Only Hanwha, as example, was at CANSEC and DEFSEC. This event included representatives from other companies like HD Hyundai and LG1, to name two. Its the only chance that respective companies might get to sit and meet each other.

The plan is for this to become a yearly thing. We also have another Swedish delegation coming at the end of the month. With the renewed focus on Defence from the current government I hope to see more of these Roadshows between us and our allies. Theyre a great tool to have, especially if made a regular occurrence.

To this regard I have also included an updated chart showing off Hanwha partnerships. I should call this a Team Korea chart as it now includes one Hyundai partnership.

I should note that this does include partnerhips outside of CPSP. I also will note that some companies, like Soucy, alrrady maintain contracts and relations with Hanwha through Hanwha Australia. Rumoured partnerships are partnerships that TNSR understands to be in deep negotiations, not just meeting or discussing the idea. As of right now sixteen partnserships are confirmed with another sixteen in negotiations. Obviously not all of these will work out but I do want to make note of them.