Overview
- Two weeks after the Trump–Lee meeting, the promised joint factsheet remains unreleased, and the annual Security Consultative Meeting statement is also still unpublished in a first for the talks.
- Seoul insists the submarines be constructed in South Korea, while public signals from Washington have pointed to a U.S. yard in Philadelphia tied to Hanwha.
- A senior South Korean official says Washington has approved use of nuclear fuel for the project, yet Department of Energy reviews and wording adjustments are slowing finalization.
- A memorandum for roughly $350 billion in South Korean investment in the United States, including about $150 billion for shipbuilding, is prepared but unsigned pending the broader announcement.
- Analysts cite limited U.S. shipyard capacity and legal hurdles over enriched uranium, and warn of regional repercussions including pushback from China, Russia and North Korea and renewed debate in Japan.