JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Here's a statement. Quote, "the days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over." That claim comes from the new U.S. National Security Strategy released this month. The document says that the U.S. will shift some of the burden of defense to its allies, and it will equip them for it. For one ally, equipment means nuclear submarines for South Korea. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul.
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: At the end of October, President Trump sat down with South Korean president Lee Jae Myung on the sidelines of a regional summit in the city of Gyeongju. Lee made the case to Trump for acquiring nuclear subs.
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PRESIDENT LEE JAE MYUNG: (Through interpreter) The limited underwater range of diesel submarines restricts our ability to track subs on the North Korea or Chinese side.
KUHN: That was a candid remark, as South Korea is usually careful not to suggest that it could use its military against China. Lee added...
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LEE: (Through interpreter) These submarines could conduct defense operations in the waters around the Korean peninsula and significantly reduce the burden on U.S. forces.
KUHN: President Trump agreed to Lee's request. South Korea says the two allies will sign a treaty authorizing the subs' acquisition. But South Korea's underwater ambitions still face challenges. North Korea is building its own nuclear-powered subs, possibly with help from Russia. Then there's the debate over whether the U.S. or South Korea should build the subs. President Trump has suggested that they be built at shipyards in Philadelphia, but South Korea's defense minister and others have questioned whether they have the necessary workforce, expertise and infrastructure. Retired South Korean navy captain Yoon Suk Joon argues for buying the subs.
YOON SUK JOON: (Through interpreter) I have a somewhat negative view about building our own nuclear submarines, which requires a significant investment of time and money.
KUHN: Yoon also argues that subs are not necessarily the best choice for deterring North Korea, as the waters around the Korean peninsula are too shallow for submarines to move around without being spotted.
The U.S. has ideas about what to do with the subs. Admiral Daryl Caudle, the U.S. Navy's chief of naval operations, spoke about this on a visit to Seoul last month.
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DARYL CAUDLE: The utilization of that submarine for counter-China, I think, is a natural expectation. With that type of capability, I think the United States would expect partnership, again, working as an alliance together to meet our combined goals on what the United States considers to be our pacing threat, which is China.
KUHN: South Korea does not officially classify China as a security threat. The U.S.'s move to give South Korea nuclear subs is in line with the recently released U.S. national security strategy. That document calls for the U.S. to arm its allies to confront its adversaries while the U.S. focuses on the Western Hemisphere.
Kim Heungkyu is a political scientist and director of the China Policy Institute at Ajou University outside Seoul. He says South Koreans are distrustful of this shift in U.S. strategy, and while they'll take the subs, it's not just to help the U.S.
KIM HEUNGKYU: (Through interpreter) In a new international order without the U.S. in the Western Pacific, South Korea needs a survival strategy based on nuclear weapons. This is something that politicians, both conservatives and liberals, are now realizing.
KUHN: Kim says the U.S. faces three choices in Asia. First, it could defend its allies more assertively. Second, it could let them get nuclear weapons to defend themselves. Or third, it could leave them to fall into China's sphere of influence. Japan and South Korea don't like the third option, Kim says, and regardless of U.S. ambitions in Asia, he sees its influence as waning. So nuclear weapons are the only option left, and the submarines are a step in that direction.
Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul.
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