President Lee Jae-myung on the 5th stressed eradicating corruption in the defense industry and military supply sectors, saying, "They are talking nonsense about handing out negotiated contracts on top of being punished for siphoning off military secrets," and asked the head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration to "check those things carefully, because corruption is corruption, big or small."
The president made the remarks while responding to a participant's request at a town hall in South Chungcheong to "eradicate corruption in the defense industry and military supply sectors, such as the introduction of firearms unfit for the Special Warfare Command."
The president also told Ahn Gyu-baek, Minister of the Ministry of National Defense, "Among the ministry's reform tasks are improving treatment and rooting out defense industry corruption," and ordered, "Take good notes of what came up at the town hall and use it as reference in policymaking."
The president's remarks appear to point to the process of selecting the builder of the lead ship for the 7.8 trillion won "Korean Destroyer Next Generation (KDDX)" led by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. The agency will decide on the 18th the construction method for the KDDX lead ship (negotiated contract, competitive bid, or joint development). HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, which handled the basic design of the KDDX, is requesting a negotiated contract, saying the designer should build the lead ship as is customary. Hanwha Ocean, on the other hand, says the contractor should be newly selected through a competitive bid.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has a record of being convicted in 2022–2023 for allegedly leaking KDDX-related design data. With the president's remarks, some interpret that if a defense contractor's history of leaking secrets is reflected in the project evaluation, the scale will tip toward Hanwha Ocean over HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.