President Lee Jae-myung on the 29th asked U.S. President Donald Trump, who visited Gyeongju, to "make a decision so that we can be supplied with fuel for nuclear-powered submarines."
In his opening remarks at the South Korea–U.S. summit held at Gyeongju National Museum in North Gyeongsang, Lee said, "I think there may be some misunderstanding because I was not able to explain enough before," making the request.
Lee said, "We are not building submarines that load nuclear weapons. The diving endurance of diesel submarines is inferior, which limits tracking operations against submarines from North Korea or China."
He added, "So if you allow the supply of fuel, we could build several submarines carrying conventional weapons with our technology and conduct defense operations in the East Sea off the Korean Peninsula, which I think could significantly reduce the burden on U.S. forces."
Lee again requested, "If you instruct that practical consultations make progress on the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel or the institutional sector of uranium enrichment, I think the issue could be resolved at a somewhat faster pace."
The two leaders were said to have discussed ways to revise the South Korea–U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement during the talks.
The government is pushing to secure nuclear fuel self-sufficiency at a level similar to Japan through this revision. In Japan, uranium enrichment below 20% and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel are autonomously allowed.