North Korea’s state-run media announced that the South Korean-United States plan to create nuclear-powered submarines could trigger an arms race.
“The United States has given approval for the ROK to build nuclear-powered attack submarines,” the White House explained in a fact sheet. “The United States will work closely with the ROK to advance requirements for this shipbuilding project, including avenues to source fuel.”
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) condemned the move, stating that the “true colors of the confrontational will of the U.S. and the ROK to remain hostile towards the DPRK to the end and predicts the future of the U.S.-ROK alliance that will get more dangerous and warns in advance the regional security situation that will become more unstable owing to it.”
The media outlet argued that “U.S. approval to the ROK’s possession of nuclear submarine is a serious development that destabilizes the military security situation in the Asia-Pacific region beyond the Korean peninsula and causes the situation of impossible nuclear control in the global sphere.” It further explained that South Korea’s possession of a nuclear submarine is a “strategic move” that will “spark a hot arms race.”
Earlier this month, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stated that the United States’ alliance with South Korea will focus on deterring threats emerging from North Korea. He emphasized there are “a lot of threats in the world which we’re prepared for, and we’ve had a lot of good faith conversations, but centered around ensuring that the ROK is able to, as we move forward, work with them, lead the conventional defense here on the peninsula against North Korea.”
