The government expects to launch the first South Korean nuclear-powered submarine by the mid- to late 2030s, following U.S. approval of its request for the required fuel.

At a Cabinet meeting presided over by President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday, Won Chong-dae, deputy defense minister for resources management, said progress in the allies' consultations on the matter has created the right conditions for a push on the submarine project.

The deputy minister said efforts are underway to obtain the required technology and verify its safety.

Based on the country's world-class conventional submarine construction capabilities, the official projected that if the fuel supply is secured through consultation with the U.S., construction could begin in the late 2020s, with the launch of the first submarine feasible in the mid- to late 2030s.

Following last week’s South Korea-U.S. summit in Gyeongju, U.S. President Donald Trump accepted Lee's request to supply nuclear fuel for nuclear-powered submarines.

Trump later posted on social media that he'd approved Seoul's construction of a nuclear-powered submarine in Philadelphia, but U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Seoul on Tuesday that his department will help fulfill Trump's pledge.