By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, July 23 (Yonhap) -- New U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Michelle Steel on Thursday hailed South Korea's shipbuilding cooperation with the United States as an expansion of the bilateral alliance into a "new" and "important" territory, stressing that reinforcing the alliance is her "top priority."

Steel made the remarks during an event marking the opening of the Korea-U.S. Shipbuilding Partnership Center (KUSPC) in Washington -- a platform to facilitate the US$150 billion investment in the U.S. shipbuilding sector that Seoul has committed to as part of last year's bilateral trade and investment deal.

"What we have discussed today is proof that our alliance is expanding into a new, incredibly important territory: the vitalization of the American industry, including in shipbuilding," she said in her first major public remarks since her Senate confirmation last month.

She enumerated a set of shipbuilding cooperation endeavors, such as Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group's $5 billion infrastructure plan for a major shipyard in Philadelphia, Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai's multi-billion-dollar investment fund with Cerberus Capital Management, a U.S. firm, and Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries' strategic partnership with Vigor Marine Group, a U.S. marine service firm.

Those efforts came after South Korea committed last year to investing $150 billion to help revitalize America's shipbuilding sector under its "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA)" initiative.

"(They) are further proof that our two governments and industries see mutual benefit in these investments," she said.

The new U.S. envoy also highlighted that the launch of the KUSPC exemplifies what the two countries' partnership can achieve when they align their industrial strategies toward common goals.

"This undertaking is part of a much larger vision -- one in which Korea's investment in American manufacturing, shipbuilding and strategic sectors works (for) a fair, reciprocal and resilient trade relationship between our two nations," she said.

"Our cooperation on shipbuilding is one of the most visible manifestations of the strength of our relationship, but it is only one piece of a much broader alliance. Strengthening that alliance will be a top priority during my tenure as ambassador."

Responding to a question in a brief encounter with Yonhap News Agency, Steel said that she will depart for South Korea next week, suggesting that she could assume her post in Seoul as early as late this month.

Steel, a former two-term congresswoman, is set to fill the ambassador post, which has been left vacant since former Ambassador Philip Goldberg left Korea in January last year.

She is the second Korean American to serve as the U.S.' top envoy to South Korea, following former Ambassador Sung Kim, who served in Seoul as ambassador from 2011–2014.

sshluck@yna.co.kr

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