South Korea and the United States on Thursday launched a shipbuilding cooperation center in Washington to facilitate the planned $150 billion investment in the US shipbuilding sector that Seoul committed to under last year’s bilateral trade and investment deal.
Senior officials and industry leaders from the two countries joined an event marking the opening of the Korea-US Shipbuilding Partnership Center, a platform to advance the “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” initiative aimed at revitalizing America’s shipbuilding industry.
The opening came two months after the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in May to establish the center and strengthen bilateral shipbuilding cooperation.
In his welcoming remarks, Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan called the center a symbol of South Korea’s “strong” commitment to supporting America’s shipbuilding industry.
“Korea strongly supports President Trump’s maritime action plan. We are ready to work side by side with the US Today is the beginning of a new chapter — a new chapter for our shipbuilding industry, a new chapter for our maritime partnership and a new chapter for our alliance,” he said.
At the center of the new chapter is the MASGA initiative, the minister said, describing it as a “bold” vision that he said will strengthen American shipbuilding and its maritime power, and support regional economies across the United States.
