IAEA: South Korea has notified us of plans to discuss nuclear submarine safeguards

South Korea has formally told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it wants to begin consultations on an agreement that could support its planned nuclear-powered submarine program, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said.

Grossi said the notification concerned a separate arrangement under Article 14 of South Korea’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. He said Seoul had already submitted relevant declarations and reaffirmed its commitment to obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the safeguards agreement and the Additional Protocol.

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South Korea has officially notified the secretariat of its intention to begin consultations with the IAEA on a separate arrangement under Article 14 of the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement.

Article 14 allows a non-nuclear-weapon state to reach a separate agreement with the IAEA on using nuclear material for military purposes that are not prohibited. The article’s most commonly cited application is nuclear-powered submarines. South Korea believes such an agreement could help address concerns that enriched uranium for submarines might be diverted to nuclear weapons development.

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We expect consultations to continue in a spirit of transparency.

A joint fact sheet from an October summit between President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump included U.S. agreement to South Korea building nuclear-powered submarines. Seoul said in May that it aimed to launch its first vessel in the mid-2030s and deploy it in the late 2030s.

Grossi also said a new uranium-enrichment facility at North Korea’s Yongbyon site may already be operating or close to operation. He said the facility resembles the Kangson enrichment plant in scale and infrastructure, and June imagery appeared to show centrifuges of the same type seen in previously released images of North Korean enrichment facilities. He added that Yongbyon’s five-megawatt reactor appeared to remain active in its seventh fuel inspection cycle, while the light-water reactor appeared to have restarted after a period offline.

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Several elements in the IAEA’s latest report on North Korea lead us to assess that the facility may be operating or very close to operation.