President Lee Jae-myung, visiting New York for the U.N. General Assembly, met U.S. President Donald Trump on the 23rd and agreed to strengthen cooperation on fuel for nuclear-powered submarines and on uranium enrichment and reprocessing. It was the third summit between the two leaders, following meetings in Washington last August and at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Gyeongju in October. The talks, which had been stalled, were only narrowly arranged at the last minute after the two sides reached a degree of agreement on Korea's investment plans in the U.S., according to accounts of the negotiations. In the roughly 30-minute meeting, the two leaders voiced optimism, saying they welcomed the significant progress made in discussions on investment projects between the two countries.
It was timely for Lee to call for swift handling of the nuclear submarine construction the two countries agreed on last year and of the Korea-U.S. nuclear energy agreement, alongside investment cooperation. It is encouraging that the two sides agreed to move quickly on follow-up consultations covering submarine fuel, uranium enrichment and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Washington said last year that it supported Korea's construction of nuclear-powered submarines and its uranium enrichment, but little progress followed. The Korea-U.S. nuclear energy agreement, which bars even the reprocessing of spent fuel rods and the production of low-enriched uranium without U.S. consent, has been a shackle holding back the development of Korea's nuclear power industry.
Above all, developing nuclear-powered submarines is an effective means of strengthening deterrence against North Korea, which keeps escalating its nuclear and missile provocations. That Pyongyang has denounced Korea's submarine plan and raised the prospect of retaliatory strikes is itself evidence of how much of a threat it poses to the North. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles on the 21st of this month, part of 14 ballistic missile provocations it has staged so far this year. When the international community took up North Korea's denuclearization at the general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency on the 17th, Kim Yo-jong, director of the Workers' Party general affairs department, pushed back, saying the status of a nuclear weapons state is absolute and irreversible. That is why Korea must move quickly to acquire nuclear-powered submarines and secure low-enriched uranium.
Nuclear submarines and uranium enrichment are symbols of the modernization of the Korea-U.S. alliance. Now that investment in the U.S. has been set in motion as Washington demanded, Korea must press the U.S. on the submarine and uranium issues in return and deliver results. It will be an important test of Lee's stated resolve for self-reliance — that the country takes responsibility for its own security.
