South Korea wants to join the undersea naval elite – and has received the blessing of US President Donald Trump to do just that.
Having Seoul become the seventh country in the world operating nuclear-powered submarines – joining the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and India – could be a win-win.
South Korea could more effectively counter North Korean or Chinese moves in the waters around the Korean Peninsula; and that would free up the US Navy’s nuclear-powered attack subs to concentrate on patrols in hot spots like the South China Sea and the waters around Taiwan.
On both sides of the Pacific, building the vessels could mean thousands of high-paying manufacturing jobs, helping the US and South Korean economies.
“For South Korea, this would be a game-changer countering North Korea’s undersea threat,” said Yu Jihoon, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses and former South Korean submarine officer.
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