Hanwha Ocean "HD Hyundai Heavy sued for defamation... Shows regrettable moral standards"

Employees of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries have filed a defamation lawsuit against Hanwha Ocean in connection with the leak of the concept design for the Korean next-generation destroyer (KDDX). Hanwha Ocean stated, "We will not yield to any oppression and will reveal the truth."

In a statement released on the 7th, Hanwha Ocean said, "We filed the complaint for the public interest to prevent any further incidents that undermine the fairness of defense projects through illegal means."

On the 4th, Hanwha Ocean submitted a complaint to the National Police Agency's Cyber Bureau regarding suspicions of an HD Hyundai Heavy Industries executive being involved in the leakage of military secrets related to KDDX. On the 5th, a press briefing was held at the Seoul headquarters building to address this matter. Hanwha Ocean's legal team lawyer Gu Seung-mo is explaining the progress. Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

Hanwha Ocean emphasized, "HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ defamation lawsuit against Hanwha Ocean, which held a briefing related to the military secret leak, reflects the regrettable moral standards of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and the executives involved in the crime," adding, "This case demonstrates the need for a clear judicial process in an industry responsible for the nation's maritime security."

They continued, "The part that HD Hyundai Heavy Industries pointed out as false was that the employees admitted during the investigation and trial that the person reported to for executing criminal acts such as collecting and detecting military secrets was the company’s senior executive, the chief manager, but Hanwha Ocean explained it as if an executive was involved," explaining, "Based on the employees’ testimonies and the publicly disclosed list of evidence showing the installation and operation of servers for storing military secrets, we judged that there are various indications of executive involvement."

In particular, they added, "The complaint was filed to resolve reasonable doubts about the investigation results, which did not investigate not only the 'executive' pointed out by the employee who committed the crime during the initial investigation but also the higher-ups."

They also stated, "Despite difficult circumstances such as HD Hyundai Heavy Industries prohibiting access to materials, we conducted the briefing after receiving limited materials through requests for disclosure," and added, "Since it appears that all materials related to the 'executive' pointed out as the higher-ups during the investigation of the accused for the crime are available, we hope that all such materials will be disclosed and that cooperation with the investigation will be provided to resolve the suspicions as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, employees of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries submitted a complaint containing these details to the National Police Agency’s National Investigation Headquarters on the 3rd. They claim that the investigation records released by Hanwha Ocean were selectively excerpted and edited from only part of the suspect interrogation records obtained through the Ministry of National Defense’s prosecution team, which clearly contradicts the actual testimony and intent. They were finally convicted last November for secretly acquiring military secrets related to KDDX and sharing them through the company’s internal network, violating the Military Secrets Protection Act.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.