President Lee Jae Myung visited a shipyard in Philadelphia on Tuesday, in a symbolic move to underscore South Korea's commitment to helping revitalize the United States' shipbuilding industry.
Lee toured Hanwha Philly Shipyard, which Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean acquired last year for 140 billion won ($100 million), a day after holding a summit with US President Donald Trump at the White House.
He attended a christening ceremony for the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel "State of Maine" built for the US Maritime Administration, as he was accompanied by senior officials from both nations.
The Philadelphia shipyard is the first US shipyard acquired by a South Korean company, and is considered a centerpiece of Seoul's proposed shipbuilding cooperation project, dubbed "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again" or MASGA.
"The Republic of Korea's shipbuilding industry is setting out to take on a new challenge to contribute to strengthening US maritime security and rejuvenating America's shipbuilding industry," Lee said, referring to South Korea by its official name.
"Through the MASGA project, we will achieve a 'win-win' outcome that would see the shipbuilding industries of both the United States and South Korea take a leap forward together," he added.
Lee also expressed hope that the initiative would open a new chapter in the alliance as a "future-oriented, comprehensive strategic partnership" encompassing security, economic and technological cooperation.
Hanwha said the ship is a symbol of the bilateral partnership and vowed to make additional investments to ramp up the shipyard's annual production capacity from the current 1.5 ships to 20 ships.
"It is the embodiment of our two nations working together side by side to reindustrialize for the sake of shared security and prosperity," Hanwha Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan said at the ceremony. "We are creating good manufacturing jobs, building the world's most advanced ships, and fostering a new skilled workforce right here in America."
The NSMV State of Maine, the third among five ships ordered by MARAD, will be used for US merchant fleet training in peacetime and for disaster response and rescue missions in emergencies, according to Hanwha.
The ceremony was attended by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), and other senior officials from both countries.
The project was seen as instrumental in reaching a trade deal between Seoul and Washington last month. It includes constructing new shipyards in the US, building American ships, nurturing shipbuilding personnel, and cooperating on maintenance, repair and overhaul projects.
At Monday's summit with Lee, Trump said the US would buy Korean ships and work with South Korea to rebuild America's shipbuilding sector. "We love their ships," he said.
Following the shipyard tour, Lee will head back to Seoul, concluding a six-day trip that included a visit to Tokyo for talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. (Yonhap)
