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Foreign Ministry establishes team for U.S.-Korea nuclear submarine negotiations

Published: 12 Feb. 2026, 09:11

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, left, speaks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the start of their talks in Washington on Feb. 3. [YONHAP]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched a team to support negotiations with the United States on Korea's push to build nuclear-powered submarines, diplomatic sources said Thursday.

The team, under the North America affairs division, is expected to work as a negotiating channel to advance an agreement between the allies on allowing Korea to build the strategic vessels, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

The team is also expected to draft a bilateral arrangement outlining how the allies could cooperate to support Korea in securing fuel supplies for the submarines.

It is seen as an effort to facilitate the agreements reached between the allies following the two summits between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump in August and October last year.

The agreements cover trade and security commitments, including Korea's $350 billion investment package for the United States in return for lowering the reciprocal duty on Korean goods from 25 percent to 15 percent.

The move comes amid growing uncertainties over the prospect of the summit agreements after Trump's warning of a tariff hike, citing Seoul's slow progress in implementing the deals.

Seoul has formed a pan-government task force for negotiations on the nuclear-powered submarines, with the defense ministry taking the lead.

Of the negotiations on security issues, the foreign ministry is responsible for talks on revising a nuclear energy pact with Washington to secure the rights for uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing for peaceful use.

A U.S. delegation for negotiations on the security-related issues is expected to visit Korea as early as late this month or in early March to initiate the talks with Seoul.

Yonhap