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Chaebol

“South Korea’s family-run conglomerates, known as chaebol, are often accused of corruption, abuse of power, and widening of social and economic inequality. Hanwha has been no exception.”

Kim Seung-youn, third from left, seen with his three sons, from left Kim Dong-seon, Kim Dong-won, the chairman and Kim Dong-kwan. (November 2022). In April 2024, Hanwha announced changes to the structure of Hanwha Aerospace thought to be related to succession.

The youngest son Kim Dong-seon, rejoined the group seven years after he left Hanwha’s construction unit over the allegation that he had assaulted new employees at law firm Kim & Chang during a binge-drinking session at a bar in Seoul. His father was convicted of assault after beating these employees.

Quick Facts

Founder: Chong hee KIM started the company in 1952 during the Korean War making dynamite

Owner:  Seung-youn KIM (Chairman)  (43.56%) son of the founder. A criminal who has served time in jail with at least two convictions including assault and embezzlement.

Total Assets: 179.7Billion US (2023)

Headquarters:86, Cheonggyecheon-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul South Korea

Number of employees: 43,690 (2020)

Hanwha companies: energy and materials, finance, retail & services, and aerospace including defence.

Hanwha Aerospace: Weapons production comes under this subsidiary.

Hanwha Aerospace CEO: Dong Kwan KIM – the eldest son of the Chairman and grandson of the founder.

Profiting from War

South Korea is one of the world’s fastest-growing defence exporters and was ranked by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute as the world’s ninth-largest arms exporter from 2018-2022.

Hanwha Aerospace accounts for nearly half of overseas arms exports in South Korea which rose to a record $17.3B (US) in 2023. In South Korea weapons manufacturers, such as Hanwha, can build weapons faster and cheaper than the US due to:

• the joint venture model between the government and arms companies, which allows companies to rearrange domestic deliveries to meet export orders
• technological prowess, mass-production capacity, and competitive pricing.

South Korean law prohibits its defence companies from selling directly to countries engaged in conflict so Hanwha cannot currently supply Israel or Ukraine. Still, Hanwha’s annual revenue from arms exports has jumped 11 times to $1.1 billion (US) since the war in Ukraine.

Hanwha Australia

• Established 2019
• A subsidiary of Hanwha Aerospace, which in turn is a division of the vast South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Corporation. 
• Hanwha companies have been operating in Australia since 2005 in areas including mining equipment, logistics and sustainable energy.
• The vision of HDA:Be the partner the ADF counts on most to help protect our nation, our region, our world.
• Headquarters: 550 Bourke Street, Melbourne
• People
• Managing Director: Dean Michie – acting in the role since April 2024. Previously worked for Elbit Systems.

HDA contracts with the Australian Government:

Pyne and Partners are advising Hanwha Defence Australia

• Sole tenderer to supply Self-Propelled Artillery Systems under LAND 8116 Phase 1, a $0.9 billion to $1.3 billion project.
• The successful tenderer for the AU$5–7 billion LAND 400 Phase 3 program to replace Australia’s Cold War-era fleet of M113AS4 armoured personnel carriers. The acquisition and initial support contracts for LAND 400 Phase 3 have a combined value of approximately $4.5 billion dollars. The total value of the project is approximately $7 billion dollars. It is the Army’s largest-ever acquisition program.

This “rapid — and increasingly entwined — development of the Australian and South Korean armaments industries is part of a US-led anti-China militarisation of the region.”’

Hanwha Armoured Vehicle Centre of Excellence (H-ACE)

The fleet of Redback IFV’s will be built at the $170M Hanwha Armoured Vehicle Centre of Excellence (H-ACE ) just about completed on a 15-hectare site at Avalon Airport in the Greater Geelong precinct some 60km west of Melbourne’s CBD, within the Corio electorate of Richard Marles Minister for Defence.

The initial order was for over 400 vehicles which went down to 300 – finally landing at 129. This is because Australia doesn’t need any of these vehicles for defence as there are no enemies on the northern border … and at 42 tonnes the Redbacks are far too heavy for most roads in Northern Australia, but the project had gone too far and had to proceed. Most are most likely to be sold overseas ³ The first Redback vehicle will be ready for delivery in 2027 with the final vehicle to be delivered in late 2028.

The facility, known as Plant 4 by the global Hanwha organisation, is seen as a secondary source of supply for the Republic of South Korea supplementing armoured vehicle manufacturing capabilities in South Korea’s Changwon city, Geelong’s sister city.

The project to build the Redback includes an Australia Industry Capability (AIC) package which is supposed to reinvigorate this old vehicle manufacturing area. The development of militarised areas for weapons manufacturing industries is happening across Australia in similar manufacturing areas such as the Hunter Valley, Woolongong, Ipswich and North Adelaide.

It is said the project will create 2,100 jobs inclusive of 1,800 direct jobs and provide approximately AU$9 billion worth of economic value across the country, ‘’with more than AU$5.7 billion expected to be generated in Victoria alone.”

Albanese government’s mid-genocide-commitment of $917 to Elbit Systems 

Elbit Systems – currently making record profits from supplying weapons to the genocide – has signed a $926M contract with the Victorian government to support HDA in building the Redback turret integrated with the Redback vehicle.’

The Government claims that it is not involved in a contract with Elbit Systems because Elbit is subcontracted to Hanwha. Australia was required to consent to the sub-contract with Elbit and engaged closely to ensure some of the work occurred in targeted electorates.

According to HDA, the Redback turret was designed to integrate advanced technologies such as Elbit’s Iron Fist Active Protection Systems, and Iron Vision Head Mounted Display Situational Awareness System and the Spike LR2 Anti-Tank Guided Missiles. The turret is designed to easily integrate these advanced systems to achieve optimum performance for the vehicle rather than bolt on aftermarket solutions.

Plasan

Plasan is an Israeli weapons manufacturing company owned by Kibbutz Sasa which is complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. Plasan, provided a significant portion of the armoured vehicles to the IOF free of charge as an “emergency mobilization”. Plasan works in cooperation with Hanwha Defence Australia (HDA) including the Huntsman and will provide advanced armour for the Redback. It also collaborates with Thales Australia and BAE Australia Plasan is establishing an office in Australia

Contact Details

Info@plasan.com