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| President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a ceremony at Hyundai Heavy Industries' shipyard in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, Friday. Yonhap |
By Park Jae-hyuk
Last Friday's ceremony to celebrate the sending of the first block from Hyundai Heavy Industries' (HHI's) reopened shipyard in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, has drawn attention due to the abrupt replacement of the event's emcee, rather than because of its importance for the southwestern region's economy.
When the shipbuilder first began preparing for the ceremony, an announcer from Jeonju MBC was asked to emcee the event, which would be attended by President Yoon Suk Yeol, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang and North Jeolla Province Governor Kim Kwan-young.
A day before the event, however, the announcer was replaced by a freelance announcer from Ulsan, who had previously emceed multiple events hosted by HHI and its parent, HD Hyundai.
Jeonju MBC raised questions about the firm's decision, mentioning Yoon's previous conflict with the broadcaster's Seoul headquarters. The presidential office had banned an MBC reporter last year from boarding the presidential jet, claiming that the broadcaster had damaged the national interest by reporting fake news.
In response, presidential spokesman Lee Do-woon reportedly told Jeonju MBC that the presidential office was irrelevant to the replacement, as the decision had been made by HHI.
Amid the controversy, the ceremony was held on Friday afternoon as planned.
HHI said that two 112-ton blocks for container ships were shipped to its Ulsan headquarters from its Gunsan shipyard, which resumed operation last October, five years after the shipbuilding industry recession caused its shutdown in 2017.
The blocks will be used to build 15,600-TEU container ships in Ulsan, and the Gunsan shipyard will produce 100,000 tons of blocks this year to generate 180 billion won ($141 million) in revenue, according to the shipbuilder.
"We will make efforts for the Gunsan shipyard to revitalize the Korean shipbuilding industry and the regional economy," HD Hyundai Chairman Kwon Oh-gap said.
The presidential office also said in a statement that the reopening of the Gunsan shipyard will revitalize the regional economy, which has been sluggish since the closure of a GM Korea factory there.
After several local news outlets reported the sudden replacement of the event's emcee, however, Yoon and the presidential office faced public criticism, prompting people to focus more on the political controversy than on the economic effect of the shipyard's resumed operation.
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