S. Korea, US align on nuclear submarines as Seoul steps up peninsula defense

“South Korea and the United States reached a shared understanding during last week's bilateral talks that Seoul's future nuclear-powered submarines will both bolster the security framework on the Korean Peninsula and benefit the broader alliance, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. “We continued the discussions based on the understanding that the submarines will be built in South Korea and the U.S. side didn’t elaborate further,” a foreign ministry official said, adding that the U.S. delegation did not link the submarine issue to the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON), another critical area of focus for the two allies. The remarks came a week after the kickoff meetings in Seoul on June 2 and 3, aiming at implementing security and economic agreements outlined in the joint fact sheet published in November 2025, following the October 2025 summit between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump. The meetings were led on the Korean side by First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo and on the U.S. side by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison

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