South Korea Aims to Announce Nuclear Submarine Basic Plan by Month's End Following US Summit

The government is accelerating efforts to build nuclear-powered submarines (NPS) by aiming to announce a basic plan as early as the end of this month. This move follows the recent South Korea-US summit, where the joint announcement indicated the United States' approval of South Korea's NPS construction and its commitment to cooperate on fuel procurement.

The upcoming announcement is expected to detail the US approval for South Korea's NPS construction and close cooperation, including fuel procurement measures.

However, follow-up discussions between South Korea and the US regarding the introduction of nuclear-powered submarines have been slow, partly due to other pending issues like the "Coupang problem" and delays in fulfilling investment commitments to the US. The government's announcement of a basic plan is seen as an attempt to regain momentum for the project by presenting a specific timeline for introducing nuclear-powered submarines.