Speaking at an event in New York on the 23rd, local time, President Lee said he had talked about shipbuilding cooperation with President Trump the previous evening. He said Korea-US cooperation in the sector was becoming concrete and that he expected real results.

Mr Lee said Hanwha's shipyard in the Philippines would build strategic vessels for the United States and that Korea was taking part in developing America's next-generation fires system, describing Korea as a core partner for industry and economic security. The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that he presented this to Wall Street investors.

Defence Spending for Submarines

Mr Lee reportedly told President Trump that Seoul would strengthen self-reliant defence by increasing defence spending or doing more to defend the peninsula, and proposed as part of that to speed up discussions on nuclear-powered submarines.

The two leaders are reported to have discussed submarine fuel, uranium enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing, shipbuilding and the transfer of wartime operational control, based on the summit agreement announced last November. President Trump asked South Korea in June, at the G7 summit in France, to build ten US naval ships.

When Shipyards Become the Language of Diplomacy

Shipbuilding has become the link between trade and security in the alliance: Washington can ease its shortage of naval construction capacity, and Seoul can quantify its alliance contribution in technology and facilities. But submarines, enrichment and reprocessing touch the non-proliferation regime, and several rounds of consultation will be needed before any agreement is set in writing.