Seok Jong-gun, Director of the DAPA, said, "KDDX project worth 7.8 trillion will be selected as a business operator in the first half of next year."

Seok Jong-gun, head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, said at a press conference held at the Gwacheon Government Complex yesterday that he will select the next Korean destroyer (KDDX) in the first half of next year, which was expected to be within this year.

Commissioner Seok said, "In reality, we don't have enough physical time until this year."

The KDDX project, which has a project cost of 7.8 trillion won, is competing with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, which is in charge of basic design, and Hanwha Ocean, which is in charge of conceptual design, for leading ship orders.

According to custom, the company in charge of the basic design will be in charge of construction under a private contract, but Hanwha Ocean has insisted that HD Hyundai Heavy Industries should select a builder through competitive bidding as it has been controversial due to confidential leakage.

In response to the criticism that the KDDX electrification could also be delayed, an official from the DAPA explained that there may be situations in which the delivery date of the lead ship is not physically met, but we are also considering shortening the schedule of the follow-up ship to prevent delays in the overall KDDX schedule.

The agency went on to say it has set a target of $20 billion for defense exports this year to become one of the four largest defense powerhouses by 2027, but at this point it is not easy because it is a challenging goal.