- US Senators Tammy Duckworth and Andy Kim are visiting South Korea and Japan to explore boosting American shipbuilding capabilities.
- The trip aims to examine potential joint ventures with leading shipbuilders in the region to construct and repair non-combatant vessels for the US Navy and attract investment to American shipyards.
- This initiative addresses concerns that the United States significantly lags behind China in naval shipbuilding capacity, with US commercial shipbuilding accounting for only 0.1% of global capacity compared to China's 53%.
- Discussions will focus on auxiliary vessels and the possibility of repairing US ships in the Indo-Pacific, as current US capacity is aging and insufficient.
- Recent developments include South Korea's Hanwha Ocean completing maintenance for a US Navy ship and South Korea proposing a $150 billion investment in the US shipbuilding industry to support Donald Trump's initiative.
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