Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said on the 9th that, regarding Canada's Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP), he understands there is currently no partitioning order plan such as "six for Korea and six for Germany."
At a full meeting of the Trade. Industry Energy. SMEs. and Startups Committee at the National Assembly that day, the Minister was asked about the "possibility that the Canadian government will split the submarine order between Korea and Germany," and said, "When I visited Canada, I asked that question directly, and I was told that, as of now, there is no such plan."
CPSP is a project pursued to replace the Victoria-class submarines of the Royal Canadian Navy, which are scheduled to retire in the mid-2030s, and aims to procure up to 12 diesel submarines. The project is estimated at about 60 trillion won. In Korea, Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries formed a consortium to participate, and they are competing for the order with Germany's TKMS. Industry sources believe both sides recently submitted final proposals, and the preferred bidder could be selected as early as June this year.
Some local media earlier reported that the Canadian government was reviewing a plan to place split orders for six submarines each with Korea and Germany.
The meeting also mentioned that the Canadian side is demanding industrial cooperation conditions. In response to a question about additional conditions, such as cooperation in the automobile industry, the Minister said, "We are formulating corresponding industrial cooperation measures together," and added, "We heard a relatively positive assessment from the Canadian government regarding Korea's proposal."
Asked whether there was in fact a request to build an automobile plant locally, the response was, "It is true that such talk emerged directly and indirectly." The official added, "The Canadian government is at the stage of comprehensively evaluating a package of diverse industrial cooperation measures, including defense."
On the prospects for Korea's corporations winning the order, the Minister said, "We are not presuming the result in advance and are responding with our best efforts."