DAPA chief discusses naval shipbuilding, cooperation in US visit

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, D.C., Sept. 17. Yonhap

The chief of Korea's arms procurement agency has met senior U.S. government officials and discussed bilateral shipbuilding and arms industry cooperation during his visit to Washington this week, his office said.

The four-day trip by Seok Jong-gun, minister of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), came as Seoul seeks to support Washington's push to revitalize its shipbuilding industry.

Korea has proposed to the U.S. a large-scale cooperation project, dubbed "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA)," which involves building new shipyards in the country, re-establishing relevant supply chains and building U.S. warships.

On Wednesday, Seok met with Michael Duffey, under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, and highlighted Korea's competitiveness in naval warship acquisition and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO).

He also held talks with Brett Seidle, under secretary of the Department of the Navy, to discuss cooperative measures for the MASGA project and exchanged opinions on overcoming legal and policy hurdles to expand such cooperation, DAPA said.

As part of his itinerary, Seok attended a forum hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and called for efforts to address such barriers.

DAPA said it will strengthen cooperation with the Pentagon and the Navy as well as key American think tanks to expand bilateral arms industry cooperation.