Family members bid farewell to sailors boarding the ROKS Dosan Ahn Chang-ho, a 3,000-ton South Korean naval submarine, at a port in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province,in, late March. The submarine departing across the Pacific for the first time to participate in joint drills with Canada in June aimed at bolstering maritime security and defense industry cooperation. Photo by Yonhap/EPA
SEOUL, June 4 (UPI) -- There is a Korean idiom, cheongchul eoram, that translates roughly as "blue dye drawn from indigo, yet bluer than the plant itself." A companion expression, bingchul eossu, captures the same idea from a different angle: Ice, made from water, is colder than water itself.
Together, they describe the student who not only learns from the master, but surpasses him entirely. South Korea is now attempting exactly that -- in one of the world's most consequential defense contests.
At stake is the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project -- up to 12 diesel-electric submarines, valued at roughly $60 billion (Canadian), to replace Canada's aging Victoria-class fleet.
Those four British-built boats are scheduled for retirement in the mid-2030s, leaving the Royal Canadian Navy facing a capability gap at a moment when Arctic sovereignty and Indo-Pacific commitments are pressing harder than ever.
