Korea working with U.S. to address legal barriers to shipbuilding cooperation: DAPA chief

Seok Jong-gun, minister of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, speaks during a forum hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Sept. 17, [YONHAP]

 
Korea is working with the United States to address legal U.S. barriers to bilateral shipbuilding cooperation, the head of Seoul’s arms acquisition agency said Wednesday, as Seoul seeks to support Washington’s push to revitalize the American shipbuilding industry.
 
Seok Jong-gun, minister of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, made the remarks during a forum hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, pointing to a set of barriers, such as the Byrnes-Tollefson Amendment that bars foreign entities from building major components, including the hull of Navy vessels.
 
 
“When the two countries pursue shipbuilding cooperation that both want, there are legal barriers,” he said, noting that he plans to discuss the barriers during his planned meetings with senior officials from the Pentagon and the Department of the Navy.
 
He added, “There apparently is a need to quickly address this at a leadership level in the U.S. in a forward-looking way.”
 
In particular, the minister noted difficulties in meeting the U.S. demand for shipbuilding cooperation through the only Korea-run shipyard in the United States — Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, operated by Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean.
 
“We have already made various proposals (to the U.S. for shipbuilding cooperation),” he said. “One way is for Korea to supply various ship components with the priority given to the U.S. We can also manufacture (parts) of ships in blocks, then bring them to the U.S. and assemble them in the U.S.”
 
Other methods include building a naval vessel with only minimum sailing functions and then transporting it to America to add all sensitive security features and combat systems to it in the U.S.
 
“We need to coordinate the proposals we have put forward to find a way that can satisfy the U.S. demand,” he said. “Toward that end, there might be a situation that calls for the higher-ups (in the U.S.) to make a determination quickly.”
 
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is keen on rebuilding America’s shipbuilding sector, as China is known to have over 230 times the shipbuilding capacity of the U.S. in the midst of an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry.
 
Korea has proposed to the U.S. a large-scale cooperation project, dubbed “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again.”
 
The project includes constructing new shipyards in the U.S., nurturing shipbuilding personnel and re-establishing related supply chains, as well as building American ships and cooperating on maintenance, repair and overhaul projects.

Yonhap