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Sukjoon Yoon
Opinion
Sukjoon Yoon

Devil in the details as US agrees to a South Korean nuclear-powered sub

Will the Australian experience be shared? Will it be a Virginia-class vessel or an indigenous design? And where will funding come from?

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A bottle of champagne is smashed on the hull of South Korea’s first 3,600-ton-class naval submarine during a ceremony held at the Hanwha Ocean dockyard, in Geoje, South Korea, October 22. Photo: Photo: EPA/Yonhap
Sukjoon Yoon
Captain Sukjoon Yoon, a retired South Korean naval officer, is a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs and a member of the advisory committee to South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff.
For US President Donald Trump to consent to South Korea building its own nuclear-powered submarines was unexpected – though a welcome decision for the many South Korean analysts who have long argued such vessels were urgently needed by the country’s navy.
It will have a huge impact on the US alliance with South Korea and its neighbours, not least North Korea, which is apparently building its first nuclear ballistic missile submarine with Russian technical support: not just any nuclear-powered sub, but one that will presumably carry nuclear weapons.

For many years, the US navy has been quantitatively inferior to the Chinese navy. With the gap growing bigger, its qualitative superiority is also being steadily eroded. Trump has vowed to enhance both the navy’s capabilities and numbers, and for this, US allies will play an essential role. Financing, facilities, technical cooperation and a skilled workforce: all these are needed, and they can most obviously be provided by South Korea and Japan.

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