South Korea to Speed Up Nuclear-Powered Submarine Construction... 'Korea-U.S. Kickoff Meeting' Within Weeks

A "kickoff" meeting will be held to implement the security commitments agreed by President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump at last year's South Korea–United States summit. The Joint Fact Sheet (JFS) issued after the summit included major security consultations, including approval for South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine.
First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo reached the agreement after meeting with Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker on the 19th (local time). Hooker also agreed to lead a U.S. delegation to South Korea within weeks. The two sides exchanged views on the overall South Korea-U.S. relationship, the Korean Peninsula, and regional and global developments, including the implementation of the summit's Joint Fact Sheet.
Before meeting with Hooker, Park also met with Andy Baker, a deputy assistant to the U.S. National Security Council, and other NSC officials.
Attention is now focused on whether progress will be made on major security issues agreed by the two presidents, including the construction of a South Korean nuclear-powered submarine.
However, no significant results emerged on the submarine project. Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense is said to have begun formal procedures to introduce a South Korean nuclear-powered submarine. The ROKN recently submitted a requirement proposal for a nuclear-powered submarine to the ROK JCS. A requirement proposal is a request made to a superior authority when the military seeks to introduce a new weapons system or advance a force buildup project. It covers operational performance, concept of operations, the number of units needed, and the timeline for deployment.
The ROKN said only that it had submitted the requirement proposal related to the submarine project, adding that it could not provide specific details. The ROK JCS is reviewing the request and plans to hold a Joint Chiefs of Staff Council later this month to finalize the decision on the submarine requirement. Military authorities have been considering a plan to secure at least four nuclear-powered submarines of 5,000 tons or more in displacement after the mid-2030s.