US will share tech to let South Korea build nuclear submarine: Trump

GYEONGJU, South Korea — The United States will share closely held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, President Donald Trump said on social media Thursday after meeting with the country’s president .

President Lee Jae Myung stressed to Trump in their Wednesday meeting that the goal was to modernize the alliance with the U.S., noting plans to increase military spending to reduce the financial burden on America.

The South Korean leader said there might have been a misunderstanding when they last spoke in August about nuclear-powered submarines, saying that his government was looking for nuclear fuel rather than weapons.

Lee said that if South Korea was equipped with nuclear-powered submarines, that it could help U.S. activities in the region.

Trump said in a separate post that the country would build its nuclear-powered submarine in the Philly Shipyard, which was bought last year by South Korea’s Hanwha Group.

It was unclear what the size or cost of the sub project would be, but South Korea had said as part of talks with Trump that it had committed $150 billion to invest in America’s shipbuilding capacity .

U.S. nuclear submarine technology is widely regarded as some of the most sensitive and highly guarded technology the military possesses. The U.S. has been incredibly protective of that knowledge, and even a recently announced deal with close allies the United Kingdom and Australia to help the latter acquire nuclear submarine technology doesn’t feature the U.S. directly transferring its knowledge.

Trump’s post on social media comes ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose country possesses nuclear submarines , and after North Korea in March unveiled for the first time a nuclear-powered submarine under construction. It is a weapons system that can pose a major security threat to South Korea and the U.S.

As Trump visited South Korea, North Korea said Wednesday that it conducted successful cruise missile tests , the latest display of its growing military capabilities.

Pentagon officials didn’t immediately respond to questions about Trump’s announcement on sharing the nuclear sub technology with South Korea.

Boak reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report from Washington.

韩国庆州——美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周四在与韩国总统会面后在社交媒体上表示，美国将分享一项高度保密的技术，以帮助韩国建造核动力潜艇。

李在明总统在周三与特朗普的会晤中强调，目标是实现与美国的联盟现代化，并指出计划增加军费开支以减轻美国的财政负担。

韩国领导人表示，他们上次在8月份谈到核动力潜艇时可能存在误会，并称韩国政府寻求的是核燃料而不是核武器。

李表示，如果韩国拥有核动力潜艇，就能帮助美国在该地区的活动。

特朗普在另一篇帖子中表示，美国将在费城造船厂建造核动力潜艇，该造船厂去年被韩国韩华集团收购。

目前还不清楚该潜艇项目的规模或成本，但韩国在与特朗普的会谈中表示，已承诺投资 1500 亿美元用于提升美国的造船能力。

美国核潜艇技术被广泛认为是美军拥有的最敏感、最严密保护的技术之一。美国对这项技术一直严加保密，即使是最近宣布与亲密盟友英国和澳大利亚达成的帮助后者获取核潜艇技术的协议，也没有涉及美国直接转让其技术。

特朗普在社交媒体上发表此番言论之际，正值他即将与中国国家主席习近平会晤前夕。中国拥有核潜艇，而朝鲜也在今年3月首次公开展示了一艘正在建造中的核动力潜艇。这种武器系统可能对韩国和美国构成重大安全威胁。

在特朗普访问韩国之际，朝鲜周三宣布成功进行了巡航导弹试验，这是其日益增强的军事能力的最新展示。

五角大楼官员没有立即回应有关特朗普宣布与韩国分享核潜艇技术的问题。

博阿克从东京报道。美联社记者康斯坦丁·托罗平从华盛顿对此报道亦有贡献。