US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he has given approval to South Korea to build a nuclear powered submarine in America.
The remarks come while the US President is in South Korea, where he met South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
This announcement by Trump came before his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. China also has control over nuclear submarines.
“I have given them approval to build nuclear powered submarines instead of the older, less agile, diesel powered submarines,” Trump wrote on his Truth social platform.
He said that the submarine will be built in Philadelphia city of America.
“Shipbuilding in our country will soon make a big comeback,” Trump said.
South Korea to invest in US shipbuilding
The South Korean president is said to have asked Trump to “make a decision on allowing us to get fuel for nuclear-powered submarines.”
Such submarines would help South Korea better track North Korean and Chinese ships over long periods of time.
Lee told Trump, “We are not proposing to build submarines armed with nuclear weapons; rather, diesel submarines have low submerged endurance, which limits our ability to track North Korean or Chinese submarines.”
Nuclear submarine technology is widely considered one of the most sensitive and highly protected technologies in the United States.
There were no concrete details about the size or cost of the project. As part of talks with Trump, South Korea revealed it has pledged $150 billion (€130 billion) to invest in US shipbuilding capacity.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko