Seoul pushes back after U.S. official suggests two sides reshaping alliance to deal with 'regional threats'
Published: 04 Dec. 2025, 18:27
![President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands ahead of their summit at the Gyeongju National Museum in North Gyeongsang on Oct. 29. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/04/aacfb07e-d98c-4b27-8b34-927bad9504a0.jpg)
President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands ahead of their summit at the Gyeongju National Museum in North Gyeongsang on Oct. 29. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]
WASHINGTON ― As Washington leans more heavily on Asian allies to counter China’s expanding military reach, a senior U.S. State Department official said Wednesday that Korea’s plan to develop a nuclear-propelled submarine shows how the two countries are reshaping their alliance to deal with "regional threats."
Seoul quickly pushed back, saying the initiative reflects security concerns on the Korean Peninsula rather than an effort to single out any nation.
Jonathan Fritz, the deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, made the remarks at a forum hosted by the Korea Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
He described the Donald Trump administration's support for Seoul’s pursuit of a nuclear-propelled, conventionally armed submarine as “a clear example of bilateral cooperation that advances our collective capabilities against regional threats.”
![The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Michigan makes a brief stop for personnel near Okinawa, Japan, as part of its deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations on Nov. 10, 2022, in this file photo. [U.S. MARINE CORPS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/04/a7058ee3-d377-4190-82ba-aff06203a353.jpg)
The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Michigan makes a brief stop for personnel near Okinawa, Japan, as part of its deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations on Nov. 10, 2022, in this file photo. [U.S. MARINE CORPS]
Although Fritz did not explicitly name China, his reference to a broader set of challenges beyond North Korea echoed Washington’s growing emphasis on the Indo-Pacific. He said the United States would work with Korea and other partners to uphold maritime law and maintain stability “whether in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, or elsewhere in the region.”
Seoul distances itself from China angle
The Foreign Ministry moved quickly to clarify Seoul’s position, stressing that the submarine initiative is rooted in Korea’s need to respond to "rapidly changing security conditions on the peninsula."
The program "does not target any particular country," the ministry said in a statement Thursday.
First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo, who met with experts at several Washington think tank officials, repeated that message. He highlighted Korea’s record as a “model” nonproliferation partner and said its security plans bear no relation to nuclear weapons development.
![Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ahead of their meeting in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, on Oct. 31. [KYODO NEWS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/04/ec884a92-fe20-4015-b67e-c5d8175dc08b.jpg)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ahead of their meeting in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, on Oct. 31. [KYODO NEWS]
The diplomatic back-and-forth unfolded against the backdrop of heightened tensions between China and Japan. The two countries have sparred since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said last month that Tokyo could exercise collective self-defense in the event of a Taiwan crisis. Beijing responded with a series of retaliatory steps, from urging Chinese citizens to avoid traveling or studying in Japan to halting the release of Japanese films.
Pressed in parliament on Japan’s position on Taiwan, Takaichi invoked the language of the 1972 joint communiqué with China, which states that Beijing regards Taiwan as an inalienable part of its territory and that Tokyo “fully understands and respects this stance.”
Push for realistic North Korea goals
![Jonathan Fritz, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, delivers keynote remarks at the ROK-U.S. Strategic Forum 2025 hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Korea Foundation in Washington on Dec. 3. [CSIS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/04/77617d41-f64f-446c-a0b1-e4c2015c1a6f.jpg)
Jonathan Fritz, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, delivers keynote remarks at the ROK-U.S. Strategic Forum 2025 hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Korea Foundation in Washington on Dec. 3. [CSIS]
Fritz also reiterated Washington’s stance that it continues to call for “the complete denuclearization of the DPRK.” The acronym refers to North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
But two former U.S. negotiators said in a subsequent discussion that the United States and South Korea may need to revise their expectations if they hope to restart diplomacy with the North.
Robert Gallucci, a distinguished professor at Georgetown University and the chief U.S. negotiator during the 1994 North Korean nuclear crisis, said that holding to the longstanding goal of complete denuclearization no longer reflects the region’s reality.
"[There's] lot's of nuclear weapons capability in North Korea and we'll be crazy not to recognize that as a reality. This is not a new nuclear state," he said.
He argued that placing denuclearization at the center of renewed talks would be counterproductive, even if it remains a sensible long-term objective. Arms control, he said, would offer a more attainable path in the near term.
"Stability, avoiding first use of nuclear weapons seems [...] not too bad as an opening objective for conversation," he said.
![Speakers including Robert Gallucci, distinguished professor at Georgetown University, second from left, and Stephen Biegun, Weiser International policymaker in residence at the Weiser Diplomacy Center, center, speak at the ROK-U.S. Strategic Forum in Washington on Dec. 3. [KANG TAE-HWA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/04/d9bf9475-3c66-4180-9027-8152e5fc279f.jpg)
Speakers including Robert Gallucci, distinguished professor at Georgetown University, second from left, and Stephen Biegun, Weiser International policymaker in residence at the Weiser Diplomacy Center, center, speak at the ROK-U.S. Strategic Forum in Washington on Dec. 3. [KANG TAE-HWA]
Stephen Biegun, the former U.S. deputy secretary of state who oversaw North Korea policy during the 2019 North Korea-U.S. Hanoi Hanoi summit, offered a similarly sober assessment.
He said the outlook for denuclearization is “not very promising,” though he did not rule it out entirely.
Biegun warned against assuming what Pyongyang wants, recalling that U.S. negotiators had crafted a normalization road map for the 2019 summit based on expectations that did not match North Korea’s interests.
He said the summit “did not end in acrimony,” even if it "didn't end in agreement," leaving open the possibility that dialogue could resume under U.S. President Trump.
But he added that North Korea is unlikely to consider engagement until the war in Ukraine reaches at least an interim resolution.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KANG TAE-HWA [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)