S. Korea maintains goal of building nuclear-powered submarines at home: official

SEOUL, June 5 (Yonhap) — South Korea remains committed to its original goal of building its envisioned nuclear-powered submarines at home, a senior presidential official said Friday, as Seoul and Washington kicked off negotiations on the details of the project.

“(Our goal of) building nuclear-powered submarines in South Korea remains largely unchanged,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

The remarks came days after Seoul and Washington held the first round of consultations on advancing the project after the United States expressed support for Seoul’s pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines and uranium enrichment to fuel them following a summit between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump late last year.

During the consultations held Tuesday and Wednesday in Seoul, the two sides discussed a timeline for follow-up talks to advance the project and agreed to cooperate closely to produce tangible results “as quickly as possible.”

South Korea aims to develop nuclear-powered, conventionally armed attack submarines fueled by low-enriched uranium and plans to launch the first vessel in the mid-2030s, as part of efforts to address North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

All bilateral discussions have so far been conducted on the premise that the vessels will be built in South Korea and “that remained to be the case” in the recent negotiations, the official said, adding that the issue has never been revisited or questioned.

He said the recent Seoul-Washington negotiations addressed uranium enrichment, reprocessing and nuclear-powered submarines in a productive and useful manner.

“(We) plan to accelerate the overall discussions to move (the project) forward” and produce concrete results by the end of the year, although no deadline has been set, the official also noted.

Referring to Seoul’s push to regain wartime operational control (OPCPN) of troops from Washington, the official said the two sides currently have no significant differences over the timing of the planned transfer.

“There’s no major difference over the timing. There’s a gap of about a year or (slightly) longer (between the two sides),” the official said, insisting that such differences are adjustable.

As both conditions and the timing of the OPCON transfer remain within an adjustable range, he said no major controversy is expected on the transition plan and that the issue will be handled under the broader goal of keeping the allies’ combined defense capabilities uncompromised even after the change.

Regaining wartime OPCON from Washington is a key policy pledge of President Lee, who seeks to complete the transfer during his five-year term ending in 2030.