Kang Hoon-sik, the presidential chief of staff, headed to Europe on the 19th as the president's special envoy for strategic economic cooperation. He will visit countries targeted for defense industry cooperation to support local orders for defense corporations.
Deputy Minister Kang met reporters at Incheon International Airport that day and said, "It may be difficult to win all the projects underway, but the goal of this visit is to increase the volume of orders as much as possible," adding, "We will make every effort we can to achieve the goal of becoming one of the 'four major defense powerhouses.'"
Deputy Minister Kang emphasized, "Defense industry exports are not achieved by military cooperation alone," adding, "Because this issue is intertwined with industrial cooperation by corporations and export finance support, and furthermore with cooperation with defense startups that could become Korea's future growth engines, the chief of staff is taking part as the president's special envoy."
Regarding the background for the presidential chief of staff personally serving as special envoy, he explained, "Our internal conclusion is that in the case of mega-scale defense industry projects, it cannot be done by the efforts of the Ministry of National Defense alone."
He added, "I will return after completing the trip with the mindset of contributing even a little to creating national wealth." He emphasized, "If a large corporation wins an order for a single warship, it can create jobs at more than 300 first-tier partner companies, and given that most of those firms are located outside the capital region, the government regards this as very important and will push this matter forward."
In response to a question about President Lee Jae-myung's request, Deputy Minister Kang said, "He said that if even a small effort is needed that can contribute to creating national wealth, we should of course go."
Deputy Minister Kang did not mention specific countries to be visited or projects. He said, "We are going out to compete with powerful great powers in Europe," adding, "It is right not to say, for the sake of the national interest, which specific countries we are competing with and the details of the visit schedule," and kept his remarks brief.
However, according to ChosunBiz reporting, Deputy Minister Kang is known to be planning to visit Poland to support the "Orka Project," a submarine project worth 8 trillion won. To achieve "K-defense's rise to the four major powerhouses," Deputy Minister Kang will carry out three rounds of special envoy missions for strategic economic cooperation through the first half of next year.