On Thursday, December 25, South Korean military giant Hwahwa Group’s Chief Strategy Officer Alex Wong announced in a corporate statement that their Philadelphia shipyard is ready to build nuclear-powered submarines for the United States Navy.
According to Reuters, Wong stated during a media day at the shipyard on Monday, December 22, “The U.S. government has a strong commitment to its own and allies’ nuclear submarine capabilities. When governments need them, we are always ready to utilize our shipyard in Philadelphia to construct these submarines.”
South Korean shipbuilders are vying to assist U.S. President Trump in revitalizing the American shipbuilding industry. Seoul signed a trade agreement with the United States last month, pledging to invest $150 billion in the American shipbuilding industry in exchange for the U.S. reducing import tariffs on South Korean cars from 25% to 15%.
President Trump announced during a press conference on Monday that Hwahwa Group will be involved in constructing escort ships for the U.S. Navy. He praised Hwahwa as an excellent company and mentioned the group’s plan to invest $5 billion in expanding the Philadelphia shipyard, which they acquired for $100 million in 2024.
Senior officials of Hwahwa revealed that the group is actively recruiting professional technical talents capable of building Virginia-class submarines, as they see a high level of interest from Washington in expanding this type of submarine industrial base.
Jongwoo Cho, the operations manager of Hwahwa’s Philadelphia shipyard, stated that the company is in discussions with potential partners to acquire land or expand shipyards to increase production capacity but did not disclose specific details.
As reported by the East Asia Daily, Wong recently stated in an interview with the newspaper, “There is a consistent political direction and policy will between South Korea and the United States, with aligned interests.”
Previously, Australia signed the AUKUS agreement to jointly build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines with the United States and United Kingdom, and the three countries also signed agreements allowing the transfer of military-specific nuclear material. Recently, South Korea and the United States have also agreed to move forward with discussions regarding the introduction of nuclear submarines. Wong predicted that South Korea could conduct major procedures such as supplying nuclear submarine fuel, possibly faster than Australia.
Regarding the “concurrent construction of nuclear submarines by South Korea and the United States” proposal, Wong mentioned, “This is a viable approach. If the South Korean and U.S. governments make such a decision, Hwahwa is prepared to execute it.”
Under this scheme, South Korean nuclear submarines would be built in South Korea, while American nuclear submarines would be constructed in locations like the Hwahwa Philadelphia shipyard as part of the joint shipbuilding project between South Korea and the United States under the “Make America’s Shipbuilding Great Again” fund.