Recently, South Korean shipbuilding company Hanwha Marine announced that it has voted to approve a proposal to establish a subsidiary in Canada, aimed at participating in the bidding for Canada's new generation submarine project. As the world's fifth largest submarine exporter, the related trends of Hanwha Marine reflect the trend of South Korea accelerating its layout in the global military market. The Public Service Procurement Department of Canada released a request for information in 2024, planning to purchase 12 3000 ton conventional powered submarines. To win this $45 billion order, Hanwha Marine is accelerating its cooperation and technology exchange with Canadian domestic military enterprises. In May 2024, Hanwha Marine participated in the Canadian International Security and Defense Exhibition to showcase our submarine platform and technological capabilities. In November of the same year, during the visit of the Commander of the Canadian Navy to the Hanhua Marine Juji Shipyard, Hanhua Marine showcased the Zhangbaogao III submarine production line and related underwater technology, highlighting the characteristics of ice zone adaptation, fast delivery, and low price. The upcoming branch to be established in Canada will become the seventh overseas branch established by Hanwha Marine after countries such as the United States, Japan, and Singapore. Hanhua Marine will not only establish a production base in Canada, but also help Canada strengthen its submarine maintenance capabilities to meet Canada's localization needs. In addition, Hanwha Marine has partnered with Hyundai Heavy Industries Group to commit to delivering the first four submarines to Canada by 2035. According to publicly available data from Hanwha Marine, its sales in the first half of 2025 increased by 33.6% year-on-year, reaching 6.43 trillion Korean won (approximately 4.63 billion US dollars). Behind this data is the result of the rapid transformation of South Korea's military industry in the context of security environment and economic transformation. In recent years, South Korea has accelerated its layout in systematic policy design and market strategy, in order to explore the global military industry market at multiple levels and in all aspects. The government is vigorously promoting it. The South Korean government has always made promoting arms exports a key diplomatic direction and has developed a "high-level marketing" feature. When the South Korean president visits Poland and other countries for state visits, executives from the country's military industry usually travel in groups, directly facilitating multiple large orders. In addition, the South Korean Defense Agency, as a dedicated agency, reduces corporate risks by simplifying export approval processes and providing export credit guarantees. The South Korean Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources has established a special fund to provide financial support to export enterprises. Diversified development at the market level. In the European market, we will open up the market through "technology transfer+localized production". For example, in July this year, we signed an export contract with Poland for 180 K2 main battle tanks, of which 63 will be assembled locally by the Polish military group; In the Southeast Asian market, naval vessels exported to countries such as the Philippines are priced lower than similar Western products, which helps them seize market share; In the Middle East market, emphasis is placed on "full lifecycle services", such as the export agreement signed with Saudi Arabia for the "Tiangong-2" air defense missile system, which includes a 10-year comprehensive maintenance agreement. Multi path breakthroughs in technology. On the one hand, by breaking through technological bottlenecks through international cooperation, after the United States banned the export of core fighter jet technology to South Korea, South Korea chose to introduce relevant Israeli technology to accelerate the pace of fighter jet development. On the other hand, we will continue to increase investment in independent research and development, focus on emerging fields such as artificial intelligence and unmanned combat, and promote the development of new concept weapons such as hydrogen powered main battle tanks, in order to form a weapon and equipment system covering multiple fields and better meet the needs of multiple countries for weapons and equipment. According to relevant comments, the establishment of a subsidiary by Hanwha Marine in Canada is another important attempt by South Korea to expand into the global military industry market. It not only seeks economic benefits and security autonomy, but also attempts to enhance its international defense discourse power. It should be pointed out that the rapid expansion of South Korea's military industry has not fundamentally changed its "big but not strong" industrial pattern. Deep level issues such as technological autonomy, market structure, and strategic coordination will still constrain the future development of South Korea's military industry. (New Society)