USS Vermont (SSN-792), Virginia-class nuclear-powered assault submarine of the USA Navy, approaches Busan Naval Operations Base of the Republic of Korea Fleet Command in Busan, Sept. 23, 2024. Newsis
The protection ministry stated Thursday it can search to carry negotiations with the USA to achieve entry to gasoline to construct nuclear-powered submarines, with the goal of finishing the envisioned talks inside two years.
The ministry outlined the plan throughout a coverage briefing to President Lee Jae Myung earlier within the day, as Korea’s push for nuclear-powered submarines has gained momentum with the backing of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
Granting entry to nuclear gasoline for submarines requires a revision of a bilateral nuclear power settlement between Korea and the U.S., however Korean officers have hinted at a standalone deal.
Below the plan, the ministry will draw up an in depth blueprint subsequent 12 months masking Korea’s ideas for growing nuclear-powered submarines, building plans and its stance on nuclear nonproliferation.
It additionally plans to determine a pangovernment physique to designate the mission as a nationwide strategic initiative, whereas making ready security laws and ordinances associated to using nuclear reactors in submarines.
The ministry additionally vowed to make progress in Seoul’s push to retake wartime operational management (OPCON) from the U.S., which the Lee administration seeks to attain earlier than the tip of its five-year time period in 2030.
The Korean army goals to finish the second a part of a three-stage program to evaluate Seoul’s capabilities to steer the allies’ mixed forces by the subsequent annual protection chiefs’ assembly between the 2 nations, scheduled for November 2026.
Throughout final month’s Safety Consultative Assembly in Seoul, Protection Minister Ahn Gyu-back and U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth agreed to hunt certification of “full operational functionality” — the second stage of the evaluation — subsequent 12 months and to develop a highway map to expedite the OPCON switch.
Korea handed over operational management of its troops to the U.S.-led U.N. Command through the 1950-53 Korean Warfare. It was then transferred to the 2 allies’ Mixed Forces Command when the command was launched in 1978. Wartime OPCON nonetheless stays in U.S. arms, whereas Korea retook peacetime OPCON in 1994.
