Seoul: South Korea and the United States launched new high-profile talks Tuesday to discuss the implementation of security agreements reached by their leaders, including Seoul’s push to acquire nuclear-powered conventionally armed submarines.
The first day of the two-day inaugural talks focused on security-related provisions laid out in a bilateral joint fact sheet issued following a summit between President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump in October, according to the South Korean foreign ministry.
“The meeting carries significance in that long-delayed security consultations have finally begun and are back on track,” foreign ministry spokesperson Park Il said at a press briefing, Yonhap news agency reported.
“Cooperation and partnership between South Korea and the US in the nuclear sector will help deepen and broaden the bilateral alliance,” he added, stressing the government’s commitment to fully implementing the agreed-upon issues.
On the first day of the talks, the two sides reportedly focused on issues related to Seoul’s push to build nuclear-powered submarines, which has been prohibited under a bilateral nuclear pact between Seoul and Washington.
On Wednesday, they are expected to focus their discussions on other security issues, such as Seoul’s uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing capabilities, which are largely needed to supply fuel for its envisioned nuclear-powered submarines.
Other agenda items for the new security talks include the expansion of shipbuilding cooperation between South Korea and the US.
The joint fact sheet, published in November, outlines a range of commitments by both sides, including cooperation in the nuclear sector and other security-related issues, as well as Seoul’s pledge to invest USD 350 billion in the US in exchange for a reduced US tariff rate.
First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo led the South Korean delegation, which included officials from the presidential office, as well as the defence, science and industry ministries.
The US delegation was led by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker and included Ivan Kanapathy, senior director for Asia at the National Security Council (NSC), Matthew Napoli, deputy administrator for defence nuclear nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration, and other officials from the Department of Energy and related agencies.
(IANS)
