Hyundai and Hanwha anchor KDX construction

Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, are the two principal KDX builders. Hanwha Group, formerly the Korean Explosives Company, had already acquired Samsung's aerospace division, which became Hanwha Aerospace. Hanwha Ocean took its present name after the group acquired Daewoo Shipbuilding following an accounting-fraud scandal and trading suspension. The takeover had help from the Korea Development Bank. Both Hyundai and Hanwha Ocean also hold master ship-repair agreements with the US Navy's Naval Supply Systems Command. Daewoo led initial KDX construction in the 1990s, while Hyundai became heavily involved with the second class and later dominated much of the program. Their role ties South Korea's destroyer fleet to shipyards whose work extends beyond domestic new construction.