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Korea Herald
12 hours ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
[Photo News] Hanwha Ocean's safety challenge
Top participants of Hanwha Ocean's in-company safety quiz event for foreign national employees pose for a photo on Thursday at the company's Geoje shipyard in South Gyeongsang Province, alongside Hanwha and local labor officials, including Lee Gil-seop (sixth from right), vice president of Hanwha Ocean, and Kim In-cheol (eighth from right), head of the Tongyeong District Employment and Labor Office. Around 200 foreign employees took part in the event, testing their knowledge of workplace safety and Korean culture. (Hanwha Ocean)
Korea Herald
10-06-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Seoul shares up for 5th straight session on foreign buying
South Korean stocks extended their winning streak to a fifth consecutive session Tuesday on the back of foreign buying, with investors' eyes now on the ongoing trade talks between the United States and China. The local currency lost ground against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 16.08 points, or 0.56 percent, to close at 2,871.85. Trade volume was moderate at 503 million shares worth 14 trillion won ($10.3 billion), with losers outnumbering winners 461 to 429. Foreign investors and institutions net purchased 632.3 billion won and 14.2 billion won worth of local shares, respectively, while retail investors dumped 626.9 billion won. "The KOSPI once surpassed the 2,880 mark earlier in the day thanks to a fifth consecutive session of foreign purchases, but trimmed earlier gains as retail investors moved to take profit following the recent rally," Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said. Overnight, Wall Street was little changed as investors took to the sidelines before the conclusion of the ongoing trade negotiations between the US and China. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 closed nearly flat, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.31 percent. Officials from Washington and Beijing were set to hold the second, and possibly the last, day of their ongoing trade negotiations in London later Tuesday. In Seoul, defense and shipbuilding shares were the biggest gainers. Leading defense firm Hanwha Aerospace jumped 6.36 percent to 936,000 won, and its shipbuilding affiliate Hanwha Ocean soared 4.37 percent to 78,900 won. Other major shipbuilders, HD Hyundai Heavy and HD Korea Shipbuilding, advanced 2.15 percent and 4.35 percent to 427,000 won and 335,500 won, respectively. Top battery maker LG Energy Solution rose 1.23 percent to 288,500 won, and biotech firm Celltrion added 1.25 percent to 162,200 won. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics lost 1 percent to 59,200 won, while its chipmaking rival SK hynix gained 0.66 percent to 230,500 won. Auto giant Hyundai Motor dropped 0.4 percent to 197,000 won, and its sister Kia went down 0.84 percent to 94,500 won. The local currency was quoted at 1,364.3 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., down 7.9 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)
Asahi Shimbun
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
INTERVIEW/ David Shear: China's buildup poses threat to U.S. alliances in the Indo-Pacific
China's dream to establish a Sinocentric order in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific poses a grave security threat to the United States and its allies, according to a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense and expert on Asian affairs. 'The Chinese want to diminish America's alliances with East Asian countries in the short to medium term and--I'm sure--eliminate them in the long term,' David Shear told The Asahi Shimbun in a recent interview. He said the Chinese military buildup gives China an increased ability to drive wedges, or attempt to drive divisions, between the United States and its allies. Shear said China has been deploying its naval forces throughout the region partly to ensure the security of sea lanes through the Indian Ocean. According to Shear, the Chinese believe in the philosophy espoused by Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914), an influential exponent of sea power. The U.S. naval officer and historian argued that naval strength is essential to protect commercial shipping fleets, which transport domestic products to overseas markets. 'The flag follows trade,' Shear said. 'The Chinese are Mahanians. They know that merchant marine and naval deployments go together.' The former U.S. diplomat also said the United States needs to beef up its shipbuilding industry with its allies to match China's quick pace of launching new, large warships. Excerpts from the interview follow: * * * Question: While China continues to be building large warships, the United States has failed to produce a sufficient number of ships. What can the United States do? Shear: We should be particularly concerned about U.S. naval shipbuilding capacity. President Donald Trump touched on this important issue in his State of the Union address. We're not producing ships fast enough. We don't have the facilities necessary to produce the number of ships we want over the next couple of years. My understanding is that we need to build 2.3 submarines per year to maintain the levels we need, particularly in the western Pacific. But we're building something like 1.5 submarines a year. We need the facilities and the skilled labor. At the end of April, John Phelan, secretary of the Navy, visited Japan to discuss defense industry cooperation, including bilateral efforts to maintain U.S. warships, with Defense Minister Gen Nakatani. Carlos Del Toro, secretary of the Navy in the Biden administration, visited Japan at least three times and had a productive discussion with the Japanese side on shipbuilding. South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean agreed to invest in a Philadelphia shipyard last year, and the Hyundai group also decided to work with a U.S. shipbuilding company in April. The United States needs to get together with our allies, particularly Japan, Australia and hopefully Britain, to address these issues. Q: How do you assess China's military activities in recent years? A: The growth of Chinese military strength and Chinese naval strength provides a revisionist Chinese Communist regime with the increased options and extra tools it wants to assert its expansive and excessive territorial claims throughout the region, including over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea as well as in the South China Sea. For the past couple of years, we've seen the Chinese leadership use military options vis-a-vis Taiwan, drastically increasing their operations and efforts to intimidate it. The Chinese military buildup gives China an increased ability to drive wedges, or attempt to drive wedges, between the United States and its allies. We've seen intensified Chinese military activity and Coast Guard activity in the vicinity of the Senkakus and Taiwan as well as in the South China Sea. I note that the Chinese have double the number of Coast Guard cutters over 1,000 tons that Japan has. Q: What is China's objective? A: Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that he wants the 'great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation' by 2049 (the centenary of the founding of China). He wants to establish a community of common destiny, which basically means a Sinocentric order in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific. To do that, the Chinese want to diminish America's alliances with East Asian countries in the short to medium term and--I'm sure--eliminate them in the long term. This represents a threat to the security of the United States as well as of our allies like Japan. Q: Does China intend to deploy its Navy globally? A: In the short to medium term, the Chinese intention is to increase deterrence with the first and second island chains and maximize their ability to prevent the United States from intervening in a Taiwan Strait crisis. But it's clear that the Chinese have much more expansive ambitions for their Navy over the longer term, and you can see this in their posture and deployments throughout the region. They are concerned about the security of sea lanes through the Indian Ocean, from the Strait of Malacca to the Persian Gulf. China has increased deployments of warships and submarines to the Indian Ocean and built dual-use port facilities throughout the region, such as in Djibouti in Africa and Ream, Cambodia. The Chinese appear to have interests in other port facilities in Pakistan, Myanmar and even Equatorial Guinea in Africa. The flag follows trade. The Chinese are Mahanians. They know that merchant marine and naval deployments go together. Q: Can China coexist with the United States in the Pacific? A: I think the Chinese want to come to us and say, 'You take your side of the Pacific, and we'll take ours, and all the world will be at peace.' I just don't think that that is an acceptable arrangement for the United States, and I hope it's not an acceptable arrangement for the Trump administration as well. Q: Trump is trying to link national security with tariff negotiations. What is your view? A: I agree with the Trump administration that our allies need to step up more strongly to provide for their defense and contribute to the alliance. That has always been my aim as an American diplomat working with the Japanese side. But linking economic and security issues as closely as the Trump administration has is detrimental. It would be very dangerous for us to suggest that our defense commitment would diminish with the extent of the trade deficit. The Trump administration is also trying to get close to our allies geopolitically while beating them up geoeconomically. I don't think that's a good idea. Q: Is it impossible for Japan to prevent China's high-handed behavior without increasing its defense spending? A: Both the United States and Japan need to increase their defense budgets and strengthen their military capabilities to continue deterring China. But deterrence isn't the only piece to a successful approach to China. Both of us need to be engaging China diplomatically at the same time. It just doesn't pay to stop communicating with our Chinese counterparts. We need a diplomatic as well as an economic component to our strategy. It's not just a matter of military confrontation to be able to communicate with the Chinese. I would welcome increased dialogue between Japan and China, just as I welcome increased Japanese defense spending. Q: Does it mean that a combination of dialogue and deterrence is necessary? A: It's important that our approach to China not deteriorate into a mere military confrontation. That is the road to war, and to avoid taking that road, we need to have healthy diplomatic exchanges with the Chinese. In fact, our actual strategy toward China has been a combination of engagement and hedging and deterrence for decades. The question is which component of that approach you place emphasis on. We're now in a hedging and deterrence phase, but we can't abandon the engagement side. It's the only way to maintain some kind of stable situation in the western Pacific. Q: Southeast Asian countries are concerned that Trump is not interested in this region. What can change his stance? A: The best way to get President Trump to participate in the East Asia Summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is to get moving on trade talks as quickly as possible. (This article is based on an interview by Atsushi Okudera, a senior staff writer.) * * * David Shear was a U.S. diplomat in charge of Japan, China and other Asian countries. A former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, he also worked in Tokyo, Sapporo and Beijing. Shear served as assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs between 2014 and 2016 under the second Obama administration. He is currently a senior adviser at the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Korea Herald
30-05-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Hanwha teams up with Canadian industry to advance submarine project bid
Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean said Friday it has partnered with leading Canadian security and defense firms to strengthen its bid for a Canadian submarine project with an estimated value of up to 60 billion Canadian dollars ($43.4 billion). Alongside its parent company, Hanwha Aerospace, Hanwha Ocean signed agreements with cybersecurity provider BlackBerry and marine defense systems developer L3Harris MAPPS during Canada's Global Defence & Security Trade Show, known as CANSEC 2025. The two-day event, Canada's largest defense industry gathering, began Wednesday and featured Hanwha as the only participating Korean defense company. The agreements were signed in the presence of Michael Coulter, CEO of Hanwha Global Defense, who oversees global operations for Hanwha Aerospace and Hanwha Ocean, along with Phil Kurtz, chief legal officer of BlackBerry, and Rich Foster, vice president of L3Harris Technologies Canada. 'We see significant opportunities for synergies between Hanwha Ocean and these Canadian partners -- BlackBerry and L3Harris,' said CEO Coulter. 'With the signing of these MOUs, Hanwha can begin developing strategic relationships with these partners, which will also enhance and strengthen the relationship between Canada and South Korea.' Hanwha expects the partnerships will tighten its alignment with Canadian industry and provide an opportunity to leverage its partners' long-standing experience with the Canadian Navy, in particular giving new momentum to its bid for Canada's submarine procurement plan, which includes up to 12 vessels. Hanwha Ocean, with extensive submarine manufacturing experience, is collaborating with another Korean shipbuilding giant, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, to propose advanced KSS-III-class submarines, designed and built using domestic Korean technology.
New York Times
30-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
In South Korea, Desperate Workers Take Their Grievances Into the Sky
At the top of a slender 98-foot-tall traffic camera tower in central Seoul, Kim Hyoung-su is living under a tarpaulin shelter. It is so small he can't stretch fully when he sleeps. But Mr. Kim has been up there for 77 days, protesting one of the biggest economic problems in South Korea — labor inequality. It's an issue that is sharply dividing candidates campaigning for the presidential election next Tuesday. 'I feel like an animal in a cage, eating, sleeping and relieving myself in the same place,' Mr. Kim said from his midair protest site. 'But I will persist if this is what it takes to let society know the reality workers like me face.' Mr. Kim, 52, is one of thousands of subcontracted workers at the Hanwha Ocean shipyard, one of the largest in an industry that is a pillar of South Korea's economy. Workers like him commute by the same bus, wear the same uniform, eat at the same factory mess hall and work on the same ship as those hired directly by Hanwha at the shipyard, located on the south coast. But they are paid only half of what the others earn, Mr. Kim said. Mr. Kim climbed the tower in front of the Hanwha headquarters in Seoul on March 14 to protest the 'discrimination I couldn't stand anymore.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
