WASHINGTON — An professional on Wednesday described South Korea’s push to accumulate nuclear-powered submarines as a “doable” but “difficult” endeavor, as he pointed to an array of hurdles, together with U.S. licensing procedures, nuclear proliferation considerations and relations with China, to call just a few.
James Kim, director of the Korea Program on the Stimson Middle, touched on potential challenges that Seoul may face on its path to buying conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines, throughout a discussion board hosted by the Washington-based Korea Financial Institute of America.
After his second summit with Korean President Lee Jae Myung final month, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on social media that he accepted development of the submarine for Korea, and that it could be constructed at a shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, though Seoul officers later mentioned that Korea seeks to construct it domestically.
“I imply, it is doable. Sure. The query is how a lot of a political will and financial willingness to take a position, after which you recognize, all this different political stuff,” Kim mentioned. “I believe it is undoubtedly doable, but it surely’s an extended highway to get there.”
The professional identified a number of preliminary boundaries that Korea may need to beat ought to the submarines be constructed in a U.S. shipyard. Amongst them is the U.S. home certification and licensing course of, which he mentioned could be a “big” hurdle.
“Good luck getting it via the Nuclear Regulatory Fee. Good luck getting the Public Utility Fee in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to approve this,” he mentioned. “Having a facility that might deal with and retailer these fissile supplies or nuclear radioactive supplies close to a significant metropolitan space in Philadelphia. Good luck with that.”
These are what Korea would encounter simply within the setup to the following stage, which incorporates securing a shipyard able to constructing a naval submarine, Kim mentioned, noting that the Pennsylvania shipyard, run by Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, is a industrial yard.
Different points contain securing provide chains and engineers for nuclear-powered submarine development — a brand new realm for Korea’s shipbuilding trade.
As well as, he underlined proliferation considerations within the U.S. and different geopolitical points that might floor as Seoul pushes to construct these highly effective submarines.
“On high of that, you bought this proliferation-related points. The IAEA comes into play. What China thinks about this comes into play. It isn’t simply the US,” he mentioned. IAEA is brief for the Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company, a nuclear watchdog.
“The image will get much more advanced. I’m not saying that it is unattainable. It is simply the willpower and the quantity of sources that must be thrown to make this work. It is a difficult proposition.”
For many years, Seoul has sought to construct and run nuclear-powered submarines because it pushes to safe enough unbiased navy capabilities to raised deal with North Korea’s rising nuclear threats.
Trump’s approval for the submarine development got here as Lee requested that he enable South Korea to safe U.S. nuclear gasoline provides for submarines at a time when a bilateral civil nuclear power cooperation pact solely permits the “peaceable” use of nuclear power, not for navy functions.
