Seoul: South Korea on Thursday assessed this week's nuclear cooperation consultations with the United States as a "success," as the two countries launched discussions to implement a set of security agreements reached by their leaders last year. The two sides held the meeting Tuesday and Wednesday in Seoul to discuss cooperation on South Korea's push to build nuclear-powered submarines and secure civil uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing capabilities.

According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker attended the meeting, along with interagency representatives from the countries, including those from Seoul's presidential National Security Office and the White House National Security Council. The Seoul foreign ministry assessed this week's consultations as a success, with ministry spokesperson Park Il stating at a regular press briefing that "the meeting proceeded in an excellent atmosphere, and productive and substantive discussions took place."

Both sides agreed to cooperate to derive substantive outcomes as soon as possible, decided to establish a framework to review achievements throughout the year, and agreed to accelerate future consultations. The U.S. State Department confirmed on Wednesday (U.S. time) that the two sides agreed to pursue "tangible" outcomes from their nuclear cooperation initiatives, committing to deliver these outcomes quickly to establish milestones for reviewing progress and to speed up future consultations.

The meeting aimed to advance the nuclear cooperation initiatives included in bilateral agreements on security, trade, and investment adopted after a summit between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump in late October. U.S. Under Secretary Allison Hooker also shared her positive assessment on social media, stating that the initial discussions were successful and set the stage for continued technical conversations. She also noted discussions on other issues, including ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, strengthening critical supply chains, and countering regional threats.