“1st Anniversary of ‘Introduction of Nuclear Submarines’ ROK-U.S. Fact Sheet… We need to focus on low-enriched uranium”

National Security Strategy Institute and National Assembly hold nuclear submarine seminar... Enactment of special law and call for follow-up consultations between Korea and the United States

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Eunjung Lee = In order to hasten follow-up discussions ahead of the one-year anniversary of the announcement of the Fact Sheet (JFS) containing the discussions between the leaders of Korea and the United States on the introduction of nuclear submarines, an expert suggested on the 27th that we should focus on low-enriched uranium (LEU) supplied by the United States below 20%.

Jeon Bong-geun, advisor to the National Diplomatic Academy's Non-Proliferation Research Center, made this suggestion through a seminar on 'Nuclear-powered submarine introduction strategy and legislative tasks' jointly hosted by the National Security Strategy Institute at the Glad Hotel in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, with the office of National Defense Committee Chairman Jin Seong-joon and the offices of lawmakers Kim Young-bae, Park Seon-won, and Kim Seong-hoe.

Advisor Jeon pointed out, “The use of highly enriched uranium or the request for self-enrichment for military purposes is not only unrealistic under the current situation, but could jeopardize both nuclear submarines and civil enrichment and reprocessing projects.”

Lee Chun-geun, an advisory research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy, said, "Push for private sector projects such as nuclear reactors, enrichment and reprocessing is being delayed," and advised, "As the test reactor alone requires a construction period of about three years, a trillion-dollar budget, and hundreds of high-quality personnel, it is necessary to form a civil-military consultative body and begin the development of centrifuges early."

Lee Jeong-ik, a professor of nuclear and quantum engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), said, "The fact sheet is not a legal basis for immediately allowing the transfer of nuclear materials and technology," and suggested, "Let's separate nuclear submarine and civilian enrichment and reprocessing negotiations into separate channels, and cooperate with the United States to focus on domestic development of nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel supply."

In his opening remarks, Kim Seong-bae, director of the Institute for National Security Strategy, evaluated the ROK-U.S. fact sheet as "a historic moment in which the trust of the alliance has overcome a threshold that previous governments have been unable to overcome for over 30 years," and said, "Now is the time to put the agreement into practice."

Director Kim emphasized, “Consistently informing the international community of our principle of not pursuing nuclear weapons is our strongest negotiating power.”

In his congratulatory address, Minister of National Defense Kang Shin-cheol said that nuclear and missile threats are expanding to the maritime domain, with North Korea revealing the construction site of its self-described "nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine" late last year, adding, "The special law submitted by the Ministry of National Defense to the National Assembly in September will serve as an institutional foundation to support the project."

In his welcoming speech, Chairman Jin Seong-jun of the National Defense Commission said, "There are many tasks that need to be resolved, including the recent delay in consultations between Korea and the United States," and added, "We must gather national capabilities to strengthen the policy and diplomatic momentum for the introduction of nuclear-powered submarines."

The 'Joint Fact Sheet', the result of the ROK-US summit held in Gyeongju last year, was announced on November 14 of that year, including the US approval of Korea's construction of nuclear-powered submarines.

This seminar was prepared to intensively examine ways to strengthen cooperation between Korea and the United States to connect the nuclear-powered submarine project to actual construction and to supplement the special law on nuclear-powered submarines submitted to the National Assembly.