S. Korea, US to open security talks Tuesday, with nuclear submarine and atomic energy pact revision on agenda

South Korea and the United States will hold a pan-government inaugural meeting in Seoul on Tuesday to begin implementing security commitments made at their leaders' summit talks.

The meeting, to be held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, opens at 10 a.m. Tuesday and runs through Wednesday in closed sessions, according to Yonhap News Agency. First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yun-ju and US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker will co-chair the talks as their respective sides' chief representatives. The two countries' national security councils will then lead more detailed working-level discussions by subject area.

The core agenda items include South Korea's acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, rights to uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing, and shipbuilding cooperation. Given the close interconnections among those issues and the overlap in working-level personnel, both sides agreed from the outset to address the nuclear submarine program and revisions to the bilateral atomic energy agreement together in a single, comprehensive session.

The South Korean delegation comprises officials from Cheong Wa Dae's National Security Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Climate and Energy, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission. The US delegation includes representatives from the White House National Security Council, the Department of State, the Department of Energy and the Department of War.

The talks had originally been scheduled for early this year but were delayed by several months amid a combination of factors, including South Korea's decision to slow the pace of its investment commitments to the US, the Iran war and issues surrounding Coupang Inc. Seoul said it intends to move straight into substantive working-level discussions rather than limiting the inaugural session to a ceremonial exchange. "Getting right down to working-level talks is a perspective both sides share," a Foreign Ministry official said.

The US delegation, led by Hooker, arrived at Incheon International Airport on Monday afternoon. Hooker declined to answer reporters' questions about the expected outcomes of the talks and left without comment.

The US delegation is also coordinating meetings with senior South Korean diplomatic and security officials during the visit, including Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Jeong Yeon-du, head of the Foreign Ministry's diplomatic strategy and intelligence bureau. Cho is scheduled to hold a separate breakfast with Hooker on Wednesday, where the two are expected to exchange views on bilateral issues beyond the security talks, including matters related to the Korean Peninsula.