After Australia, Korea Next in Line to Acquire Nuclear-powered Submarines

As Australia is concertizing plans to acquire three-used Virginia Class submarine, South Korea has initiated talks with the U.S. to further its nuclear submarine acquisition program.

Korea and the United States agreed on a timeline for advancing Seoul's push to acquire nuclear-powered submarines and secure expanded rights to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel following talks this Wednesday. A second round of talks in Washington is planned next month.

At the center of the discussions was whether and how to revise the current Korea-U. S. nuclear cooperation agreement, which expires in 2035. Under the existing agreement, Korea must obtain written consent from the United States through bilateral consultations every time it seeks to enrich uranium below 20 percent.

The Korean government hopes to secure broader rights through a partial or full revision of the agreement. “This is an issue that would require the United States to give up some of the nonproliferation leverage it has maintained, making the negotiations considerably more difficult,” a government official was quoted as saying by koreajoongangdaily.

Unlike the Australian deal where fully built submarines would be delivered to Canberra, Korea wants to build the nuclear submarines by itself but import the nuclear fuel. This would mean building the nuclear reactor by itself. It remains to be seen how much allowance the U.S. will make to its key ally in the Indo-Pac region which is seen as major barrier against Chinese and North Korean aggression.