Hanwha Vice Chairman Kim Dongkwan Presents Hanwha Eagles Uniform to Canadian Prime Minister

Building Rapport Through Baseball
Friendly Gestures in the Canadian Submarine Bid

It was recently revealed that when Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, visited Hanwha Ocean's Geoje shipyard, Kim Dongkwan, Vice Chairman of Hanwha Group, presented him with a Hanwha Eagles professional baseball team jersey. Prime Minister Carney is well known as an avid fan of the Toronto Blue Jays, a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Vice Chairman Kim appears to have sought to appeal to Prime Minister Carney through baseball, ahead of the final selection for Canada's next-generation submarine program (CPSP).

Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada (third from left in the front row), Kim Minseok, Prime Minister of Korea (second from left in the front row), and Kim Dongkwan, Vice Chairman of Hanwha Group (fourth from left in the front row), boarded the Jang Yeongsil submarine built by Hanwha Ocean. Provided by Hanwha Group

According to the industry on November 3, Vice Chairman Kim personally handed the prepared Hanwha Eagles jersey to Prime Minister Carney during his visit to the Geoje shipyard on October 30. On that day, Prime Minister Carney visited the site to inspect the technical capabilities and production infrastructure of Hanwha Ocean’s CPSP proposal model. Vice Chairman Kim guided him through the recently launched first submarine (Jang Yeongsil) and other vessels under construction, introduced key facilities such as the Combat Command Center (CCC) and living quarters, and presented the jersey as a parting gift at the end of the visit.

At the time, the Toronto Blue Jays-Prime Minister Carney's favorite team-were competing in the World Series, while the Hanwha Eagles were also playing in the Korean Series. Both teams share bird mascots: the Toronto Blue Jays are represented by a jay, and the Hanwha Eagles by an eagle. Vice Chairman Kim is believed to have considered this symbolism and used baseball as a medium to naturally build rapport and foster a friendly atmosphere. Coincidentally, both the Hanwha Eagles and the Toronto Blue Jays finished as runners-up, having lost in their respective series.

Hanwha Ocean has been selected as a finalist in the CPSP and is currently competing with Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS). Hanwha Ocean is proposing a model based on the 3,000-ton Jangbogo-III Batch-II submarine, customized for Canada’s operational environment. The Jangbogo-III Batch-II features an Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) system and lithium battery technology, enabling long-duration underwater operations and a range of over 7,000 nautical miles (approximately 12,900 km). In terms of displacement and armament capacity, it is considered to have higher specifications than the 2,800-ton Type 212CD proposed by TKMS. The CPSP aims to replace the Canadian Navy’s four Victoria-class (2,400-ton) submarines introduced in 1998. The total project is valued at 60 trillion won.