Cross-border strategy for defense and aerospace.
Global Konnection helps defense and aerospace companies build credible businesses and partnerships across Korean and Western markets.
From market entry and localization to Korean-prime engagement, strategic teaming and major-program capture, our work is grounded in nearly three decades of industry-side experience.
Experience spanning the United States, Canada, Korea, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Korea → Global
Korean companies entering the United States, Canada and allied markets.
Global → Korea
International companies entering Korea or approaching Korean primes.
Korea + Global → Third markets
Korean and international companies partnering for programs in other countries.
“He made me a more effective leader, and he made HDUSA a stronger organization.”
“His international business quals are extraordinary; nuanced, broad, superb.”
“I have seen firsthand the confidence that senior leaders in Korea and abroad place in his judgment.”
Both sides of the table
Cross-border defense opportunities often fail not because the product is weak, but because companies misunderstand how the other side evaluates, decides and executes.
Technology gets a company considered. Market understanding, local credibility and execution make it competitive.
Global Konnection closes that gap by translating between Korean and Western organizations: their market expectations, corporate processes, customer priorities, risk perceptions, industrial strategy, communications, decision-making and timelines.
Our work combines strategic judgment, positioning and execution support to turn relationships into credible business opportunities.
Before any approach to a Korean prime or foreign partner, we work out:
- Is the opportunity actually relevant?
- Which organization should own it, and who needs to sponsor it internally?
- What problem does it solve, and how should it be positioned?
- Should it be supply, integration, licensing, investment or teaming?
- What objections will arise?
- How does the engagement keep momentum through the internal process?
What we do
Every engagement is led directly by James Kim. Clients receive senior-level support from initial assessment and strategy through capture, partnership development and execution, with specialist advisers brought in where a program needs them.
Market entry
Sequencing a company into a new defense market: where to start, who to team with, what entity to form and when. Built on the market-entry playbook James Kim developed and led at Samsung and Hanwha, used in campaigns across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe, the United States and Canada.
Korea market and prime engagement
Advising international defense and aerospace companies seeking Korean market opportunities, partnerships with Korean primes or participation in Korean-led international programs. We help clients see the opportunity from the Korean company’s perspective, identify the right organizational pathway, position their capabilities and structure engagements that can progress through internal evaluation and decision-making.
Capture strategy
Win strategy, competitive positioning, teaming and price-to-win for major defense and aerospace pursuits, built around what the customer actually has to justify.
International teaming and strategic partnerships
Helping Korean and international defense companies identify, evaluate and structure partnerships involving technology, subsystems, industrial participation and joint market development, including joint pursuit of programs in third countries.
Offsets and industrial participation
Direct and indirect offsets, industrial participation and Canadian ITB commitments across air, land, sea and space programs, designed to meet the obligation and create business both sides want to keep.
Localization
Planning and standing up in-country manufacturing and supply chains, including site selection and partner selection.
Stakeholder mapping
Mapping the decision, policy, technical, budget, industrial and implementation stakeholders that shape a program, and understanding what matters to each.
Export and regulatory readiness
Commercial and organizational readiness for ITAR/EAR-controlled business, FOCI considerations and facility-clearance pathways, coordinated with qualified legal and security advisers where required.
Comments and testimonials
What clients, colleagues and senior defense leaders in Korea, the United States and Canada say about working with James.
“James stood out in terms of the depth of knowledge in capture strategy, competitive shaping, coalition building, and customer relationship management. This assessment wasn’t in relative terms, rather it was against the hundreds of BD, capture, GR and strategy professionals with whom I’ve worked across my quarter-century in A&D at many of the major US primes. … He made me a more effective leader, and he made HDUSA a stronger organization.”
“His international business quals are extraordinary; nuanced, broad, superb. Anyone who has done international business knows that it can be challenging and requires special skills and experience. James has those and more in spades.”
“I worked with James for just under five years. Throughout that time, he consistently demonstrated a strong work ethic and an ability to build trusted relationships with both customers and industry partners. James brings substantial campaign and capture experience and has contributed to business success in areas that competitors had previously written off.”
“I spent my career in logistics and operations, including years in government, so I know how quickly a good-sounding plan falls apart when it meets reality. James keeps strategy tied to what can actually be delivered. He understands what a customer needs, what a company can deliver, and how to bring the two together. I have a high regard for his judgment.”
“Having worked closely together over the past two years, I can attest that he is outcome focused and leaves no stone unturned as he pursues a goal. Personable, sincere, and a pleasure to work with.”
“I have known James since my time as Commanding General of the Republic of Korea Army Special Warfare Command. Over more than a decade, I have watched him grow as a leader and build lasting relationships across the international defense and security community—relationships earned through credibility and trust rather than position. I have seen firsthand the confidence that senior leaders in Korea and abroad place in his judgment.”
“James and I worked together at Hanwha, where his strategic thinking stood out. He found creative ways into international markets that others had not considered, and he was equally effective inside a Korean headquarters and in front of foreign customers. That combination is rare in our industry.”
“James brings an exceptional understanding of the Korean, U.S., and Canadian defense industries, combining strategic insight with practical execution. His ability to navigate cross-border programs, align government and industry stakeholders, and translate strategy into results is highly valued across organizations and disciplines.”
Some comments are excerpted. They reflect the individual views of the people named, not the organizations they are associated with.
Experience
Nearly three decades of international defense and aerospace experience spanning business development, capture, market entry, industrial partnerships and localization.
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Hyundai Electronics
Satellite payload and ground-segment programs
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Samsung Thales, later Hanwha Systems
International defense business development and marketing across defense electronics and overseas programs
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Hanwha Defense
International market development, capture and industrial strategy across major land-system pursuits
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Hanwha Defense USA
Senior Director and Team Leader, Business Development. North American business-development and capture leadership across U.S. and Canadian opportunities
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Global Konnection
Founder & CEO | Strategic Advisor
Representative experience
- Middle East market entry
- Developed Hanwha’s overseas market-entry playbook, written initially for the Middle East, which laid the groundwork for the company’s business development in the region. Colleagues carried the effort forward as he moved his focus to Australia, and Hanwha has subsequently secured multiple major contracts in the Middle East.
- Australia market entry
- Applying the same playbook, wrote the unsolicited proposal to Australia for a bundle of capabilities including infantry fighting vehicles and rocket and cannon artillery. The proposal led to invitations to the infantry fighting vehicle and cannon artillery tenders. Hanwha was subsequently selected for both, with production localized near Melbourne.
- Canada market development
- Originated Hanwha’s unsolicited proposals to the Government of Canada for major naval and Army capabilities. Led and supported business-development and capture activities across major Canadian land and naval opportunities, helping establish the company as a credible competitor in a market where the brand previously had limited recognition.
- U.S. market entry and localization
- Developed and advanced elements of Hanwha’s U.S. market-entry, industrial and localization strategy, including strategies for localizing energetics, munitions and artillery systems in the United States.
- International industrial partnerships
- Developed the “Painless Offset” model, first applied to fighter-program offset obligations, and shaped offset, localization and sovereign-industrial strategies across international land and naval campaigns.
- Korea market and prime engagement
- More than two decades inside Samsung and Hanwha, working across international business development, engineering, program and senior management, and seeing first-hand how opportunities and foreign partners are evaluated and advanced.
Representative examples reflect James Kim’s individual contribution within broader corporate and capture teams. Program outcomes are company and team achievements unless specifically stated otherwise.
James Kim
Founder & CEO, Strategic Advisor
- Nearly three decades in international defense and aerospace
- Worked in Canada, Korea and the United States
- Works professionally in English and Korean
- Based in Fairfax, Virginia
James Kim is a defense and aerospace business-development executive and strategic advisor with nearly three decades of experience in international growth, capture, industrial partnerships and market entry.
Before founding Global Konnection, he held senior international business-development roles with Samsung and Hanwha. There he developed and led a market-entry playbook combining local presence, stakeholder strategy, industrial partnerships, localization and disciplined capture execution. Developed through major international campaigns, those principles now underpin Global Konnection’s advisory approach.
Korean-born and raised and educated in Canada, James spent more than two decades working inside Korean corporations, taking Korean defense and aerospace products to international markets, before relocating to the Washington, D.C. area in 2020. Working professionally in English and Korean, he brings an operating understanding of both Korean headquarters environments and North American defense markets.
That experience lets him work in both directions: helping Korean companies compete internationally, and helping foreign companies understand and engage Korean defense primes. He knows how Korean defense companies evaluate opportunities, develop internal consensus, select partners and advance international business initiatives.
Tell us where you want to go.
A first conversation is the fastest way to find out whether we can help. Send a short note on the market and program you have in mind.
- james.kim@globalknxn.com
- U.S.
- +1 202 567 1796
- Korea
- +82 10 8705 3809
- Office
- Fairfax, Virginia
- James Kim
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