South Korea and the United States concluded the first day of security consultations Monday, with discussions centering on Seoul's acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines and uranium enrichment.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two governments held delegation-level talks at the ministry's annex in the Government Complex Seoul. South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo led the Korean side, while Allison Hooker, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, headed the US delegation as chief representatives.
Following a kickoff meeting between Park and Hooker in the morning, sessions chaired by national security council officials from both countries followed. Monday's session concluded, with talks set to continue through Tuesday.
The bilateral security consultations are being conducted as a follow-up to the joint fact sheet produced from last year's Korea-US summit. The agenda covers South Korea's acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, securing rights to uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing, and bilateral cooperation in the shipbuilding sector. Monday's session reportedly focused on nuclear submarines, while enrichment and reprocessing issues are expected to take center stage on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Hooker said on X that she was "pleased to launch the bilateral working group discussions to advance the bilateral civil nuclear cooperation initiative that our two presidents finalized last fall."
The two countries had initially sought to begin the security consultations between February and March this year, but the launch was delayed due to developments in the Middle East and pending bilateral issues including those related to Coupang. Given the delayed start, the two sides are reportedly in agreement on broadly setting a schedule for a second round of talks during the current meetings.
