Let's talk about the Koreans
David Pugliese was the first to report of the recent meeting in Ottawa last week...
…. And people have been asking me about it for the last several days. I've been doing my best to search, ask around and verify information. This was the previously announced 3rd Joint Meeting that was announced last year.
Numerous Korean companies and officials were present to promote intergovernment cooperation and defence solutions. Participants at the Joint meeting included:
• Kang Hwan-seok, Deputy Minister of Defense Acquisition Program Administration
• DAPA Administrator Seok Jong-gun
• Judith Bennett, Assistant Deputy Minister for Materiel
There was quite a bit here, and I'm still going over everything, but let's go over the big things first. The Joint Meeting officially established the 2025 South Korea-Canada Defense Industry Cooperation Plan. This laid out several further meetings and agreements for the rest of the year, along with areas of cooperation to be explored.
There was a lot discussed, and I don't know if these were the only things included or discussed at the meeting, but we do know two future events planned:
• Plans to sign a MOU in May to promote and develop a plan for joint training and technology sharing in the shipbuilding industry
• A roadshow conference in October for companies and officials from both countries to meet and discuss cooperation opportunities
The Korean delegation also took the time to present their new ‘Team One Korea’ for CPSP with officials from MND, RCN, and PSPC, highlighting their plans for delivery, ISS, and potential areas of cooperation and research in regards to the project. The Korean promise includes delivery within six years, technology transfer, joint-training and maintenance facilities in Canada. This isn’t new from what has been promised before.
I don't know if munitions were discussed in regards to CPSP. This is something that I know many were very interested in, and want to see some news in but it just isn't something that was either discussed or the info hasn't gotten to me yet. Maybe next time we will see something.
The Korean team also took the time to introduce their own ‘Weapon System Safety Management Procedures’ which they claim goes above and beyond the current NATO standards set out.
The Canadian side of things focused primarily on what can be learned. We presented both our in the works Defense Industrial Strategy and the new Continuous Capability Maintenance Strategy and Supply Chain Stabilization Plan as area of cooperation, and places we are eager to work.
Supply Chains were a big part of this, including the Korean side presenting their own Supply Chain Management systems in regards to defence policy, and both sides agreeing to explore supply chain cooperation and joint-management for future common platforms.
The Canadian side, according to the Koreans, not only took great interest and inquired extensively of certain Korean weapon systems, but also in Korean procurement policies, industrial policies and manufacturing technologies. The basics is that if there was something to discuss, it was seemingly discussed here, except for munitions lol.
I know everyone is curious what we showed interest in, and honestly it aligns with what Pugliese has previously reported, K9, Chunmoo, T-50… I also heard, for those who are interested, that K2 was also discussed among these others.
I’m trying to dig up more, but this is what I’ve got so far. I talked previously about how the Koreans were coming ITB heavy for CPSP, but honestly? We're far beyond that point. The Koreans don't see CPSP as the end goal, it's the opening, the beginning, and these moves set the stage for things far beyond defence cooperation.
I've said it before to many people, but CPSP is far bigger than we give credit for. This is one of the largest single orders for a conventional submarine in decades. Orders this big don’t come around often. Hanwha, the Korean industry, is also looking for their breakout moment, that contract that opens the door.
It’s happened other places, but has yet to happen on the naval side. This, like the lost Aussie contract, opens the door for export with the rest of NATO/West. We also shouldn’t sell ourselves out. Canada has the resources, industry and people to be a very valuable partner.
We sell ourselves short a lot, but Canada has the resources that Korea needs. We’re a leading developer ourselves in fields like AI, energy, battery production… We have a great industrial and educational ecosystem to cooperate on development with.
We have the resources they need like LNG and critical minerals that the Korean Peninsula lacks. We always sell ourselves as small and useless, and assume we aren’t big enough to get nice things or develop our capabilities. We need to get out of that mentality. We are better than that. We can be greater than we are.
That’s why this is such a big contract for everyone. This is about more than submarines, more than defence. This is about building generational partnerships. That's the level that Team Korea is operating on, and this level is why they've gotten the lead in CPSP. They're operating at a level far above everyone else.
Let's see if it wins them.
The opportunities we can have as a country based on what we have here are endless. There is a reason Mango Mussolini is angling for what we have, he sees it when a lot of people actually here don’t or did not wake up until now. We don’t even know 1/2 the resources that are under the soil and ice in our country.
I have a couple of thoughts and they may not be very well liked on here but I think in the eye of ensuring future generations are richer than we are right now we need to do a couple of things.
1) We need to get deathly serious about the CAF and defence as a whole today, not in 2030. I know there are constraints on PSPCs ability to procure systems but that needs to be the governments #1 priority right now that is not related to Tariffs/Trade. We need to build a robust defence industrial base, we need to incentivize it not by handouts or tax breaks but by orders and more specifically continuous orders, when a system is being delivered we need to be working on block 2 of that system or a requirements identification to replace that system, we can’t let things atrophy, nor can we let the procurement knowledge atrophy.
2) Our resource sector needs to be heavily expanded, toute suite. Tie defence spending to trade deals and ITP benefits. Tell the Koreans, we will buy the submarines from you tomorrow but you are now ordering “X” amount of oil from us or whatever other resource helps up grow as a country and try and work every deal like this some way on top of ITP benefits. It’s my opinion that we need to do something akin to Norway with their sovereign wealth fund, promise every Canadian “X” amount of tax breaks when the budget is balanced and the wealth fund is at a specific level, take it straight from the wealth fund.
3) Align with like minded middle powers. Australia, UK, NZ, Japan, SK, etc. There is no reason whatsoever why there is a need for us to be beholden to US whims and defence systems if we work with partners to build our own base. The US wants it allies to become self reliant apparently so let’s just do it and benefit from it.
You are exactly correct...Canada can do (and has done) big things! We need to start doing them again, and no one on Earth builds big things faster and better (and within budget!) than the RoK