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| HD현대중공업 울산조선소. (사진=HD현대중공업) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Paul Lee] Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD) has initiated legal action against its competitor, Hanwha, accusing them of distorting the facts related to the leak of the conceptual design for the Korean Next-Generation Destroyer (KDDX).
According to Maeil Business Newspaper and sources within the shipbuilding industry on the 7th, employees of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries filed a complaint with the National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters against Hanwha Ocean for defamation through false statements in publications. The employees who submitted the complaint are individuals mentioned in the investigation records disclosed during a press briefing on the KDDX conceptual design leak incident held by Hanwha Ocean in March.
Previously, employees of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries were convicted last November of illegally acquiring military secrets related to KDDX and sharing them through the company's internal network, violating the Military Secrets Protection Act. However, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration decided in February not to restrict HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' participation in the KDDX project bidding, stating that there was no confirmation of violations of integrity pledges by executives or representatives. In March, Hanwha Ocean held a press briefing opposing the Defense Acquisition Program Administration's decision and claiming that executives of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries were involved in the acquisition of military secrets. They also requested an investigation into allegations of executive involvement from the National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters.
Employees of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries argued in the complaint they submitted that the investigation records released by Hanwha Ocean employees were edited by selectively extracting only parts of the suspect interrogation records obtained through the Ministry of National Defense's Prosecutor's Office, thereby contradicting the actual content and purpose of the statements.
AlphaBIZ Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
