South Korea’s recent moves to expand its defense exports to Greece, particularly through Hanwha Ocean’s submarine proposal, reveal both the scale of Seoul’s ambitions and the complexity of the geopolitical and commercial terrain it must navigate.

Hanwha has reportedly offered a bespoke version of its KSS-III Dosan Ahn Chang-ho class diesel-electric submarine to the Hellenic navy, a significant overture amid long-standing tensions between Greece and Turkey and signs of renewed naval modernization in the Mediterranean.

But success is far from assured. Greece’s procurement process is opaque and often politically volatile, Turkish competition is rising and South Korea’s past efforts in