U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he will look to allies to help revive the U.S. shipbuilding sector, while South Korean companies have been building up business with the U.S. Navy. (Nikkei montage/Source photo by Reuters)

South Korea shipbuilders face choppy course as Trump opportunity knocks

Labor unrest, shortage and political turmoil cloud prospects while global orders boom

STEVEN BOROWIEC, Nikkei staff writer

January 10, 2025 06:00 JST

SEOUL -- Armed with a sleeping bag and a kettle, veteran welder Kim Hyung-soo is taking on a $9 billion corporation, spending frigid winter nights holding a round-the-clock, sit-in protest in downtown Seoul.

Since Jan. 7, the 51-year-old has been demanding better pay and conditions in front of the headquarters of Hanwha Ocean, the shipbuilder that owns the yard where he works and that is enjoying a boom in orders. Along with a handful of colleagues, Kim means business: The sit-in follows a three-week hunger strike he staged last month.