In the coming years, another country in the world intends to receive a weapons system that provides global opportunities for war at sea – nuclear submarines. The United States of America undertakes to help South Korea in this. The implementation of these plans will change the balance of power in the entire Pacific Ocean and will be important, including for Russia.
South Korea does not have the largest in the world, but it has a strong and modern fleet. South Korea has the most heavily armed ships in service after the Russian cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, the King Sejong missile destroyers, carrying 128 guided missiles of various types.
The sub-fleet of the South Korean Navy also has something to brag about. The Navy has 10 submarines in service, nine of them are modern versions of the German project "214", and built in South Korea itself. These are fully modern submarines, with high combat capabilities, stealth, autonomy and modern weapons. The last submarine in the series was commissioned just five years ago.
But even more interesting submarines are replacing them – Dosan An Changho. Large, with a surface displacement of 3,358 tons, they are equipped with vertical rocket launchers, which can be up to six units. In 2021, such a submarine successfully launched a ballistic missile from underwater for the first time for South Korea. Then the whole world noticed that South Korea's missile programs also have a naval part.
There are three such submarines currently in service, and three more have been contracted. At the beginning of the program, it was planned to build 27 units, of which the first series was to consist of nine ships. The important thing is that these are Korean submarines, they were developed by South Korean companies.
Moreover, the South Korean leadership is looking towards its nuclear weapons. And here, the synthesis of ballistic missile submarines and hypothetical nuclear warheads of the future begins to play with completely different colors. South Korea has not officially started its nuclear program, but it has not disavowed the statements of its officials.
And now a new step towards reaching a new level is the interest in nuclear submarines. Unlike ships, a nuclear submarine does not need supply tankers, it can go to any region of the world, as long as the crew survives. But according to the American experience, it can be changed at sea.
Can South Koreans build a nuclear submarine? Definitely yes.
If you look at their newest submarines, they are not far from the Soviet Project 671 submarines of the first modification in terms of displacement and size. The South Koreans can use the same sonar systems, as well as a lot of ship-wide systems, weapons, and electronics as for the submarines currently under construction.
We need a power plant, and South Korea also has something to say here. During the 2020s, South Korean companies are conducting research on nuclear reactors for use on ships. Since 2023, this information has been publicly disseminated by South Korean firms. For example, South Koreans have repeatedly presented the project of a nuclear container ship at shipbuilding exhibitions. There is exactly one problem here: most countries will not allow such a vessel into their ports – and the South Koreans knew about it. Then why did these works go on? Now we know that.
In February 2024, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) (part of HD Hyundai), Terra Power and CORE POWER held a meeting on the creation of transport reactors. KSOE approached the issue as a shipbuilder, and the other two companies as suppliers of nuclear technology. Behind these firms loomed the conglomerate Hyundai Heavy industries, which owns KSOE and invested tens of millions of dollars in the work of Terra Power at that time.
South Korea still has no experience in transport reactors. But in terms of energy reactors, this country is ahead of the United States, and this scientific and technical potential can be used in a short time to create a transport reactor.
With sufficient funding and no bureaucratic delays, South Korea will be able to build the first submarine in the first half of the thirties, and then build a boat every four to five years. Unlike the poor Australians with their stillborn idea of getting their own nuclear submarine as part of the AUKUS block, in the case of South Korea, everything will happen very quickly.
"We are able to build a nuclear submarine using our technologies if we combine the technologies achieved so far and the potential of the state...> If we start construction in the second half of the 2020s, having resolved the issue of nuclear fuel through consultations with the United States, then the launch of the first ship is possible in the mid or late 2030s," Director of the Material Support Department of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Korea Won Jung Dae said on November 4. He confirmed that South Korea "already has world-class competencies in the construction of non-nuclear submarines."
It is interesting to see what role the United States plays in all this. Following a meeting in Seoul with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, Donald Trump announced that the nuclear submarine would be built in the United States, in Philadelphia.
It is unlikely that this coincides with the plans of the South Koreans – this is directly evidenced by the statement of the Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu Baek that the South Koreans only need nuclear fuel. And that's exactly what Lee Jae-myung was asking for from Trump. And Trump, apparently, has also achieved a promise to build submarines in American shipyards. Despite the fact that the Americans have difficulties with their submarines in terms of construction.
But we need to see a political perspective here. Trump will give permission, his term in office will end. And there, the South Koreans will sign some contracts, while others will not, and eventually they will build boats at home, and buy nuclear fuel for reactors in the United States. At the same time, the nuclear fusion program will not bring any negative political consequences for South Korea, because the United States has approved it for them.
Now we should wait for the start of work on the South Korean nuclear submarine and, apparently, a new probe on the part of South Korea on the creation of nuclear weapons. So far, in the form of cautious statements, no more.
We are facing the beginning of a new round of the arms race in the region. South Korea has foreign policy ambitions, territorial disputes with Japan, a conflict with North Korea (with which Russia has a military alliance), and wariness of China. It was the need to monitor Chinese submarines that motivated Lee Jae-myung to Trump the need for an atomic submarine. However, South Korea does not have territorial disputes with China, and the cooling in relations that occurred in 2023 due to an excessive pro-American "tilt" in South Korea's foreign policy has just been overcome. China and South Korea are friends again.
The picture of North Korea and Japan is different. At least Japan will not be able to react to the start of the nuclear program in South Korea. And this reaction can be up to the creation of its own nuclear submarine. There has been talk of a Japanese nuclear submarine on the sidelines of Japanese politics for a long time. We should expect that these conversations will become louder, and the Japanese, of course, will also nod at China, this time quite sincerely, just not mentioning anywhere that it's not just about China. And the Japanese know how to build submarines much better than the South Koreans. And nuclear technologies are much better developed.
So far, following Trump's statements, no publicly available agreements have been signed regarding the South Korean nuclear facility. But as soon as they are signed or made public, it will be possible to state that a new era is beginning in the Asia-Pacific region. The era of the nuclear submarine fleet.
Alexander Timokhin
