[해외감동사연] 일본도 포기한 LNG선 핵심 부품, 한국 시골 공장이 세계를 장악했다

"There are no competitors. There is only one place in the whole world." That component that prevents even a single drop of natural gas from leaking in extreme conditions of minus 163 degrees. Japan attempted to compete but withdrew, admitting they couldn't win, and even France acknowledged that technology exists in a single factory in a rural Korean village. And the father of the man who revealed this fact to the President was a young man whose only qualification was an elementary school diploma. In his hand was a single fishing rod. A question sparked by a single fishing rod changed the heart of an LNG carrier 60 years later. We are now revealing the shocking full story. 📌 The true story behind South Korea's 'reversal of fortunes in core LNG carrier materials' covered in this video [LNG Carrier Design Held by France] An LNG carrier is a vessel that transports natural gas in a liquid state by freezing it to minus 163 degrees. The core of this ship is its cargo hold. For a long time, France's GTT held the design technology for LNG carrier cargo tanks, and Korean shipyards had to pay massive royalties every time they built a ship. [7.4 Trillion Won Lost Over 30 Years] For decades after Korea began building LNG carriers, shipyards paid royalties of approximately 13 billion won per vessel in exchange for using GTT's designs. The accumulated amount over 30 years exceeded 7 trillion won. Although Korea built the ships, the design royalties flowed to France. [However, the Component Market Was Different] While GTT held the design, the secondary barriers inside the LNG carrier cargo tanks that block gas were another battlefield. These were the core materials that prevent natural gas from leaking even at temperatures as low as -163 degrees Celsius. It was precisely in these components that Hankook Carbon began to change the landscape of the global market. [Technology That Began with Fishing Rods] Hankook Carbon's beginnings were not with LNG carriers. They started with fishing rods. In 1962, Jo Yong-jun, a young man working at a hospital in Busan, became curious after seeing a Japanese fishing rod. He wondered why that slender rod bent without breaking and why it was so expensive. That question marked the beginning of his research into fiberglass. [A Young Man Whose Only Elementary School Diploma] Founder Jo Yong-jun did not receive much formal education. However, he taught himself materials by crouching in a corner of a tobacco shop to read specialized Japanese books and by subscribing to industrial materials magazines for over 40 years. He was a man who looked things up if he didn't know, and if he couldn't figure it out even after searching, he tried it himself. [Domestic Fishing Rods Cheaper Than Japanese Ones] He studied fiberglass and manufactured domestic fishing rods. As products emerged that were much cheaper than Japanese ones but of comparable quality, the market changed rapidly. Korean materials technology grew to the point where fishing rods alone accounted for a significant share of the global market. [Reliance on Others Leads to Being Dragged Around] As fishing rods sold well, so did the problems. This was because the core fabric had to be imported from Japan. Cho Yong-jun chose the path of manufacturing things himself rather than relying on a stable income. This was because he believed that the moment one depends on others, they will be dragged along forever. [Two Explosions in the Melting Furnace] To produce fiberglass yarn, a melting furnace was required to melt the raw materials at temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius. Cho Yong-jun stepped forward to build this equipment himself. The first furnace exploded in less than a month, and the second one exploded after only half a year. However, he did not stop. [Failure, but Gaining Technology] When the factory was in chaos, he told his employees, “Although we failed, we gained that much technology. We will try again.” The two explosions became data rather than failures. The third furnace finally produced fiberglass yarn stably. [The Challenge Toward Carbon Fiber] Since then, Hankook Carbon has moved beyond fiberglass to carbon fiber composite materials. The material technology, which began with fishing rods and golf clubs, expanded to trains and buses. Challenges such as the world's first carbon fiber tilting train and the world's first electric bus route deployment followed. [What a 160 Billion Won Failure Left Behind] The train and bus businesses ultimately failed due to a lack of marketability. An investment amounting to approximately 160 billion won appeared to be a failure. However, during that process, large-scale composite material molding technology, adhesive technology for extreme conditions, and know-how on lightweighting and durability were accumulated. That technology later led to the secondary barriers for LNG carriers. [A Wall of Minus 163 Degrees] The inside of an LNG carrier's cargo tank is minus 1...