Overview
- The government publicly released the Chang Bogo N master plan on Tuesday and set a goal to launch the first domestically built nuclear-powered attack submarine in the mid-2030s.
- Seoul committed to use low-enriched uranium fuel enriched below 20 percent and says it will work with the International Atomic Energy Agency to establish safeguards that monitor submarine nuclear material.
- Officials say the program will require detailed consultations with the United States to arrange fuel supply, technical support and regulatory arrangements under existing bilateral and NPT-related rules.
- The plan calls for fully domestic development and construction using South Korea's civilian nuclear and shipbuilding industries and projects more than 40,000 related jobs over the program life cycle.
- Analysts and officials point to major hurdles that will shape the program: final U.S.-ROK fuel and safeguards deals, hard engineering challenges on reactor design and quieting, long-term costs compared with conventional submarines, and possible regional security reactions.