South Korea, U.S. Launch Security Talks, Including Nuclear Submarines

SEOUL, June 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States launched their first round of talks Tuesday to implement a set of security agreements reached by their leaders last year, including Seoul's push to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, officials said.

The inaugural two-day talks began at around 10 a.m. at the foreign ministry building in Seoul, focusing on security-related provisions in a bilateral joint fact sheet issued following a summit between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump in October.

First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo leads the South Korean delegation, which includes officials from the presidential office, as well as the defense, science and industry ministries.

The U.S. delegation is led by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker and includes Ivan Kanapathy, senior director for Asia at the National Security Council (NSC), Matthew Napoli, deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration, and other officials from the Department of Energy and related agencies.

Key agenda items are expected to include Seoul's push to build nuclear-powered submarines, secure the right to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes and expand shipbuilding cooperation between the two sides.

The joint fact sheet outlines a range of commitments by both sides, including security-related issues and Seoul's pledge to invest US$350 billion in the U.S. in exchange for a reduced U.S. tariff rate.

The kickoff meeting had initially been expected to take place earlier this year but was delayed as Washington focused on other priorities, including the Middle East conflict.

The U.S. had also raised concerns over delays in Seoul's legislative process for its investment pledge and a probe into the U.S.-listed e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. over a massive data breach, among other issues.

Despite the delay in launching the consultative body, the two sides have continued working-level discussions and are expected to move quickly into substantive talks at the inaugural meeting, according to the officials.

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency last week, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said South Korea seeks to revise the bilateral nuclear energy pact, known as the 123 Agreement, "as soon as possible" to enable uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. The government also hopes to accelerate cooperation in nuclear-powered submarines and shipbuilding.

South Korea is effectively prohibited from enriching uranium and reprocessing spent nuclear fuel under the existing agreement.