US officials-shipyard

SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Yonhap) -- Senior U.S. Navy and Marine Corps officials have visited South Korean shipbuilding giant HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.'s shipyard to assess its naval shipbuilding capabilities, photos showed Sunday.

Their Nov. 4 visit to the shipyard in the southeastern South Korean city of Ulsan came as Seoul and Washington are jointly seeking to revive the U.S. shipbuilding industry under the MASGA, or "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again," initiative.

"The visit brought together senior U.S. Navy and Marine Corps leaders to assess naval shipbuilding capabilities, installation infrastructure and logistics support across South Korea," read a photo caption of one of the uploaded photos on the Pentagon's Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS).

The delegation included Brendan P. Rogers, assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy for energy, installations and environment; U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Andrew M. Niebel, deputy commandant for installations and logistics; and U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Valerie A. Jackson, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Korea.

As part of the itinerary, the delegation also assessed opportunities to strengthen maritime sustainment, enhance operational readiness and reinforce the South Korea-U.S. alliance, according to DVIDS.

In October, HD Hyundai signed an agreement with U.S. engineering and construction company Kiewit to establish a joint venture to build a new shipyard in the United States, with plans to begin construction next year and full-scale operations in 2029.

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