Home > Opinion > Columns

Korea’s shipbuilding industry: Civilization and the sea

Published: 05 Sep. 2025, 00:02

Park Myung-lim

The author is a political professor at Yonsei University.

The summit between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump has placed South Korea’s shipbuilding industry in the spotlight. Out of this meeting emerged the "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again" project, or "MASGA," which ties South Korea’s global competitiveness in shipbuilding to Washington’s “Make America Great Again” vision. The initiative signals that South Korea has developed to the point where it is seen as indispensable to reviving the industrial and strategic strength of the United States.

President Lee Jae Myung takes photos with Hanwha officials at Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia on Aug. 26. [YONHAP]

Documents issued by the White House and other U.S. agencies in 2025 paint a grim picture of U.S. shipbuilding. One memorandum noted that the United States holds only 0.2 percent of the global shipbuilding market, while China controls 74 percent. In container shipping and ship-to-shore crane production, the United States registers zero percent, compared to China’s 96 and 80 percent shares. Commercial ship construction is below 1 percent in the United States versus 50 percent in China. Even U.S. ports rely on Chinese state-owned software, with few alternatives available.

In response, the White House issued an executive order to rebuild the maritime sector, framing the goal as critical to national security and economic prosperity. The order included provisions for cooperation with allies. Analysts estimate that South Korea and Japan account for 30 and 10 percent of global commercial shipbuilding, respectively, placing South Korea second only to China.

A ″Make American Shipbuilding Great Again″ (MASGA) hat presented by the Korean trade negotiation team to U.S. President Donald Trump in July. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

But making shipbuilding and seapower great again is not solely a U.S. challenge. South Korea faces its own struggles. The industry’s production index, which averaged over 210 from 2009 to 2012, fell to 134 by 2024. Exports dropped from $56.6 billion in 2011 to $25.6 billion in 2024. Research and development spending has declined sharply, and the workforce has contracted by nearly two-thirds.

The revealed comparative advantage index, which measures a country’s share in global exports relative to world averages, fell from above 10 in 2008–09 to around 5 in 2024. At the start of the century, South Korea’s global shipbuilding share was five times that of China, but after years of intense competition, the positions have reversed. By 2023, China held 22 percent of the market while South Korea fell to 14 percent.

Naval capacity, the ultimate measure of seapower, reflects this imbalance. While the United States still leads China in overall capability, Chinese fleets now surpass the United States in some categories, according to international assessments. Analysts warn that China is expanding its reach beyond the first island chain, including Taiwan, and projecting power into the Pacific through the second island chain. Even in Washington, voices caution that Beijing's naval build-up will not pause while the United States resolves its shipbuilding crisis.

The U.S. industry has collapsed so completely that the government is virtually the only customer, with no real civilian market. Skills, labor, and industrial capacity have all eroded. It is a snapshot of big tech prosperity combined with manufacturing decline. Against this backdrop, calls within the United States to build a “truly integrated allied fleet” carry weight.

From South Korea’s perspective, cooperation could extend beyond shipbuilding to seapower. A second "MASGA" — "Make American Seapower Great Again" — would involve joint investment, technology, training and operations. Applied to the modernization of U.S. nuclear aircraft carriers, such collaboration could provide South Korea with a de facto nuclear shield against North Korea without violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

For this reason, South Korea should advance from industrial cooperation into naval partnership. The next step is to transform from a continental mindset into a maritime one, completing a civilizational leap. This progression could culminate in a renewed alliance framework — "Make Alliance Great Again" — that redefines ties with Washington. In effect, South Korea could absorb Trump’s MAGA into a broader strategic vision.

A view of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Ulsan shipyard [HD HYUNDAI]

Historically, South Korea’s maritime orientation has underpinned its rise. Leaders from Syngman Rhee to Park Chung Hee used alliances and overseas engagement to secure national advancement, while figures like Roh Tae-woo and Kim Dae-jung positioned Korea as a connector between continents. Similar long-term thinking is needed now. As the independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun once said, without a far-sighted vision, there can be no great achievement.

South Korea has already demonstrated such capacity, from its mobilization during the Korean War, to hosting the 1988 Seoul Olympics, to dominating global semiconductor production. These precedents offer lessons as South Korea considers the two MASGA initiatives and a new framework for its alliance with Washington. History shows that the course of civilization is often decided at sea.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.