Hanwha plans fireworks, defense forum to coincide with APEC summit

Hanwha Group will take part in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, summit as an official sponsor and showcase its cutting-edge defense solutions to global business tycoons and high-ranking government officials in Gyeongju later this month, the conglomerate said Tuesday.

According to Hanwha, it will host a show with drones and fireworks during the gala dinner on Oct. 31. Featuring 50,000 fireworks and 2,000 drones, Hanwha plans to illustrate Korea’s evolving status as a cultural powerhouse that leads the future inheriting the 1,000-year-old heritage of the Silla dynasty, one of the three ancient kingdoms on the Korean Peninsula, through media arts utilizing information and communications technology.

Hanwha, which has held an international fireworks show in Seoul’s Yeouido every fall since 2000, has directed similar displays at major events in Korea including the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, the 2005 Busan APEC summit and the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

On top of the fireworks, Hanwha will sponsor the APEC CEO summit and hold a future technology forum on the defense sector. The conglomerate’s three defense firms — Hanwha Aerospace, Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Ocean — will host the defense forum at the Gyeongju National Museum on Oct. 27 and introduce the Korean defense capabilities to both domestic and overseas military officers and defense industry officials.

The forum will also discuss the role of the defense industry and ways to cooperate for a sustainable peace with more talks on how future technologies such as artificial intelligence should be advanced in the defense sector amid the changing combat environments across the globe.

Hanwha Qcells, the conglomerate’s solar energy unit, will deliver a keynote speech under the theme of eco-friendly energy for sustainable growth and present its agentic AI-based energy optimization technology through data standardization in collaboration with Microsoft.

In order to raise the awareness of the APEC summit among the citizens, Hanwha said it incorporated the APEC partnership logo in its promotional video, which will be played on various screens outside of the Seoul Station, Gyeongju Station and Gimhae Airport as well as at the event venue.