The leaders of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN), joined by elected officials, South Korean media, veterans, and business leaders, held a ceremony at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Esquimalt to welcome a South Korean frigate and submarine for a diplomatic and business visit.
On Monday (May 25), high-ranking Korean officials met with Canadians as part of their visit to the West Coast, not just because the two navies will soon go on a joint exercise together, but also as Canada gets ready to decide on procuring 12 submarines for the RCN, where South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean is on the short list with Germany’s Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems.
“We have a shared history and a strong future together in which we can and will build a secure, free, and prosperous Pacific. Canada and the Republic of Korea have a shared history and a strong future together. Our partnership has strengthened in recent years through the comprehensive strategic partnership and the ongoing expansion of defence and security cooperation,” said RAdm. David Patchell, commander of Maritime Forces Pacific.
The ROKN will stay in Esquimalt until June 7, training together, holding local ceremonies and trading information before they and the RCN go to Hawaii to join another 29 nations for the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise–the world’s largest multi-nation naval exercise.
“Relationships take commitment and steadfastness, and we must continue to deepen the ties between our two nations. Your presence here today and this week does just that. It builds trust and solidifies our mutual bonds,” said Patchell.
Lim Ki-Mo, Korean Ambassador to Canada, said the sailors’ 14,000-kilometre journey to Esquimalt is a testament to the Republic’s long history of partnerships with Canada going back to 1950.
“The relationship between Korea and Canada was not born just in a partnership agreement, as the veterans here today remind us, it was a relationship born in a harder place at a harder time. More than 70 years ago, Canadians crossed this same ocean to stand alongside Koreans when it mattered most. Today, Korea has come to uphold this precious partnership,” said Ki-Mo. “Those soldiers started. Their shared past now finds its continuation in the ocean that connects our two countries.”
As part of the delegation, the Koreans brought Hanwha’s KSS-III submarine, called the Dosan Ahn Chang-Ho, an almost 90-metre-long sub equipped with torpedoes, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Expected in mid-June, the Canadian government will be deciding whether or not to procure the much-needed submarines.
“I consider this the best conventional submarine that’s available around the globe today. The Korean Navy has been about two generations, maybe just a little less than that, actually developing and building these submarines,” said Glenn Copeland, CEO of Hanwha Canada.
As part of the deal, Hanwha has been working to partner with local companies to introduce Canadian-made parts to what could be Canada’s next submarine class, with Hanwha announcing nine new partnerships on Monday with Ki-Mo, Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s minister of jobs and economic growth and Paul Choi, parliamentary secretary for Asia-Pacific trade for British Columbia, in attendance.
As of now, Hanwha has agreements in place with more than 70 Canadian organizations as they work to win the bid.
“When you take a look at that, that’s about a six-year process to get it fully from permitting all the way through to the infrastructure, and to get the buildings completely done, and then the full-scale assembly of what would be essentially another dockyard on the other side of the harbour. So that’s well north of $4-billion, and that’s gonna be several hundred jobs, thousands of jobs over the long haul, moving out when the first submarine’s delivered,” said Copeland.
Currently, Canada’s navy has four Victoria-class submarines, built in the 1980s by the British and transferred to Canada in the early 2000s.