Overview
- A joint fact sheet records U.S. support for South Korea to pursue nuclear-powered attack submarines and procedures that could lead to civil uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing, contingent on the bilateral 123 agreement and U.S. legal requirements.
- Officials are privately discussing Korean-led joint production that could build submarines for both navies, with unresolved questions over designs, build locations, sequencing and fuel supply.
- U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said employing a future South Korean nuclear-powered submarine to help counter China is a “natural expectation.”
- South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the planned submarines are not aimed at any specific country, a message seen as addressing Chinese concerns.
- The fact sheet ties the security push to Seoul’s roughly $350 billion U.S. investment and tariff reductions, while any move toward enrichment, reprocessing or submarine production will require further negotiations and reviews that could take years.