Hanwha Group heir apparent Kim Dong-kwan will take command of space business, which the Korean No. 8 conglomerate is pushing hard for future growth engine.

Kim, the eldest son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn and president of Hanwha Solutions, will spearhead “Space Hub,” a task force responsible for the group’s aerospace business, the group announced Sunday.

The new space team consists of engineers of Hanwha Aerospace, the group’s defense unit that participated in the development of Korea’s national Nuri rocket project. Experts from telecommunication equipment maker Hanwha Systems and weapon producer Hanwha as well as technicians from Satrec Initiative Co., the nation’s first satellite company in which Hanwha Aerospace acquired a 30 percent stake recently, will also join the team. It will have subdivisions of manufacturing, telecommunications, earth observation and energy service.

“Expertise and full support are necessary to compete against global companies, and we will work hard with our engineers to find a shortcut to space,” said Kim in a press release.

The group’s heir apparent will take a bigger role in the space business, one of the group’s future growth engines. He is expected to be named as a board of director of Hanwha Aerospace on Mar.29. He will also serve as a registered executive at Satrec Initiative.

Industry sources believe Hanwha has gained the upper hand in the space business among other local firms by securing important aerospace technologies through the takeover of Satrec Initiative. Space Hub will play a role as the headquarters of the group’s aerospace business to integrate all of the related work and establish detailed business models.

The group said it will combine capabilities of each affiliate to develop new services and products, for instance, by integrating Hanwha Systems’ video equipment technology with Satrec Initiative’s observation satellite technology. It is also considering entering satellite communication business in which SpaceX and Amazon are fiercely competing against each other, it added.

By Lee Yu-sup, Choi Keun-do and Choi Mira

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