Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has visited a South Korean shipyard with acting U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Joseph Yun, ahead of a summit between their leaders late this month.

Seoul’s foreign ministry and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said Wednesday that the top diplomats visited HD Hyundai’s headquarters in the southeastern city of Ulsan and discussed ways to strengthen shipbuilding cooperation between the two nations.

During the visit to the shipyard, Cho reaffirmed that South Korea is the ideal partner to help the U.S. revitalize its shipbuilding industry, proposing the two nations strengthen their cooperation system and explore concrete measures to advance collaboration in the sector.
 
Cho also said that with shipbuilding cooperation becoming a key pillar in the development of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, his ministry will work closely with relevant government agencies and the South Korean shipbuilding industry, and will actively engage with the United States to ensure mutually beneficial results from shipbuilding cooperation.

As part of the trade deal with the U.S., South Korea proposed a shipbuilding cooperation initiative known as the “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again,” or MASGA, project, which includes a 150 billion dollar investment from Seoul in the U.S. shipbuilding industry.