Kang Hoon-sik, the presidential chief of staff, said on the 1st that the bid for Canada's submarine procurement project worth 60 trillion won is "about a 50-50 situation."

Kang Hoon-sik, the presidential chief of staff, reads President Lee Jae-myung's congratulatory message at the 26th anniversary ceremony and special lecture for the June 15 inter-Korean summit at the Kim Dae-jung Library at Yonsei University in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 15th. /Courtesy of News1

Deputy Minister Kang said in a joint interview with the Cheong Wa Dae new media press corps that "we made a diligent and feasible offer that we can speak of with confidence, and they are likely making a careful judgment," and stated accordingly.

Deputy Minister Kang said, "Canada and Korea have a completely symmetrical structure, so there are many areas where both can 'win-win,'" adding, "By contrast, competitor Germany is a leading country in submarine technology and, above all, has the advantage of being a core country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Canada will weigh this."

Earlier, Deputy Minister Kang visited Canada twice as Lee Jae-myung's special envoy for strategic economic cooperation to directly support the bid.

On the large-scale regional investment initiative, the "three mega projects," Deputy Minister Kang said, "We intend to proceed at a faster pace than you might think," adding, "What used to take nine years will be done within two to three years under the Lee Jae-myung administration, showing that Korea is becoming a better place to invest, which will increase investment and benefit local governments."

Regarding the Cheong Wa Dae Director who will oversee the mega projects, he added, "We are considering it now. We will operate it under a system directly under Cheong Wa Dae that can report in the shortest time."

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