A senior presidential official made the remark Thursday during a briefing in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, after President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed military shipbuilding on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara earlier this week.
The official said Seoul still needs to determine exactly what form of construction Trump has in mind, but added that the Korean side had received the impression that building the vessels in Korea was not being excluded.
Trump first raised the idea at last month’s G7 summit, asking Lee whether South Korea could quickly build 10 U.S. warships. The two leaders briefly revisited the issue at a dinner during the NATO summit, but Seoul described the exchange as informal rather than a formal negotiation.
The U.S. Department of Defense and the Navy recently sent requests for information to major South Korean shipbuilders, including HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean, and Samsung Heavy Industries, seeking details on their ability to design and build combat vessels and medium-sized replenishment oilers.
The biggest hurdle is the Byrnes-Tollefson Amendment, which effectively bars U.S. Navy vessels and major hull or superstructure components from being constructed in foreign shipyards unless specific exceptions are granted.
The presidential official acknowledged that there would be questions over how to work around or resolve the legal restrictions, adding that the issue appears to involve both presidential authority and Congress.
The official also said Seoul needs further working-level talks to clarify whether Trump’s request refers to full vessel construction, block construction, naval auxiliaries, military support vessels or other categories, as different rules may apply depending on the type of ship.
The official said shipbuilding could become a key area of cooperation, combining Korea’s advanced shipbuilding capabilities and investment plans with broader efforts to strengthen the Korea-U.S. alliance.
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