South Korean officials pleased President Trump last month by presenting him with their nation’s highest honor and a replica of a gold crown. The next day he had a surprise for his hosts.

韩国官员上月向特朗普总统授予韩国最高荣誉勋章并赠送了一顶金冠复制品，令总统十分满意。次日，特朗普也给东道主带来了惊喜。

He gave the green light to South Korea’s long-cherished dream of deploying nuclear-powered attack submarines.

他批准了韩国长期以来梦寐以求的愿望——部署核动力攻击潜艇。

But the two nations have yet to sort out thorny issues such as where to build the subs, in the United States or in South Korea. It is also unclear how their enriched uranium fuel will be supplied.

但两国仍需解决一些棘手问题，比如潜艇将在美国还是韩国建造，浓缩铀燃料的供应方式也尚未明确。

Washington helped build Seoul’s nuclear energy industry in the 1970s on the condition that it would not enrich uranium, even for peaceful purposes, without American approval.

上世纪70年代，美国曾帮助韩国发展核能产业，条件是韩国未经美国批准不得进行铀浓缩活动，即便是用于和平目的也不例外。

Last month in Gyeongju, South Korea, President Lee Jae Myung made what appeared to be a compelling argument to Mr. Trump. South Korea wanted nuclear-powered attack subs to strengthen its defenses against North Korea and China and reduce the burden on allied U.S. forces, he said, but it needed American support in securing their fuel.

上月在韩国庆州，李在明总统向特朗普提出了一项看似有说服力的诉求。他表示，韩国希望通过核动力攻击潜艇加强对朝鲜和中国的防御能力，减轻美国盟军的负担，但需要美国在燃料供应方面提供支持。

South Korea already runs a fleet of its own diesel-powered submarines, and experts say those can do the job around the Korean Peninsula. Still, Seoul has been gearing up to build nuclear-powered ones, which can stay underwater longer and move faster than the diesel version. They would not carry nuclear weapons, it said.

韩国目前已拥有一支柴油动力潜艇舰队，专家称这些潜艇足以胜任朝鲜半岛周边的任务。尽管如此，韩国仍在积极筹备建造核动力潜艇——这类潜艇比常规动力潜艇水下续航时间更长、速度更快。韩国方面表示，这些潜艇不会搭载核武器。

Only a few countries have nuclear-powered subs — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and India.

目前全球仅有美国、俄罗斯、中国、英国、法国和印度等少数国家拥有核动力潜艇。

2024年，在韩国蔚山的现代重工业公司举行的交接仪式上，一艘3000吨级的柴油动力潜艇正式移交海军。

“The biggest hurdle has been how to secure fuel,” Won Jong-dae, the chief procurement officer in South Korea’s Defense Ministry, said during a cabinet meeting this month.

“最大的障碍是如何获得燃料，”韩国国防部采购主管元钟大（音）本月在内阁会议上表示。

Nuclear fuel was also a sticking point in the trade and security agreement reached in Gyeongju. Last week, the two allies released a joint fact sheet about the deal, but key questions remain unsettled.

核燃料问题同样是庆州达成的贸易与安全协议中的争议焦点。上周，美韩两个盟国发布了关于该协议的联合情况说明，但关键问题仍未解决。

Washington’s longstanding stance on not allowing Seoul to enrich uranium or reprocess spent nuclear fuel was part of a strategy to contain the technology needed to make fuel for nuclear weapons. South Korea today has a fleet of 26 nuclear reactors, all powered by imported fuel.

美国长期以来不允许韩国进行铀浓缩或核燃料再处理的立场是其遏制核武器燃料制造技术扩散战略的一部分。如今韩国拥有26座核反应堆，全部使用进口燃料。

Seoul now wants to enrich uranium on its own to build its own fuel supply chain and ensure its energy security. It is also running out of waste storage space at many plants and wants to reprocess the spent fuel for reuse and to reduce waste.

韩国现在希望自主进行铀浓缩，建立本国的燃料供应链，确保能源安全。此外，韩国多家核电站的废料储存空间即将耗尽，希望对乏核燃料进行再处理以实现回收利用，减少废料数量。

Many in South Korea support uranium enrichment for another reason.

韩国国内许多人支持铀浓缩还有另一个原因。

They say that, like Japan and Germany, their country must gain “nuclear latency.” That means possessing the capacity to quickly produce nuclear weapons should the country decide that it could no longer trust the U.S. commitment to protect it from a nuclear attack from North Korea, or that staying under America’s so-called nuclear umbrella had become too costly.

他们表示，与日本和德国一样，韩国必须获得“核潜在能力”。这意味着，若韩国认为无法信任美国对其抵御朝鲜核攻击的保护承诺，或认为留在美国所谓的核保护伞下代价过高，该国应具备快速生产核武器的能力。

Washington has long suppressed its allies’ desire for nuclear latency, preferring to keep them under its nuclear umbrella and to exert the leverage that came with such dependency.

美国长期以来一直压制盟国获取核潜在能力的诉求，更倾向于将它们置于自己的核保护伞之下，并利用这种依赖关系施加影响力。

2022年，韩国庆州半月城核电站附近的一处海滩。

Song Min-soon, a former foreign minister of South Korea, said that talks about nuclear-powered submarines were obscuring a more urgent need for South Korea to gain nuclear latency and provide more options for its diplomacy. If South Korea enriches uranium for nuclear power stations, the problem of nuclear sub fuel will also be resolved, he said.

韩国前外长宋旻淳表示，关于核动力潜艇的谈判掩盖了更迫切的需求——韩国需要获得核潜在能力，为其外交提供更多选择。他说，若韩国为核电站进行铀浓缩，核潜艇燃料问题也将迎刃而解。

“If you are not preparing for this, you are either incompetent or irresponsible,” said Mr. Song, author of a new book on diplomatic strategy for South Korea. “If South Korea acquires nuclear latency and is ready to go nuclear should the threat continue, it will prompt China to restrain North Korea. It will lead the United States to strengthen its nuclear umbrella protection for South Korea. It will also boost the South Korean people’s confidence in their security.”

“如果不为此做准备，要么是无能，要么是不负责任，”宋旻淳表示，他最近出版了一本韩国外交战略著作。“如果韩国获得核潜在能力，并准备在威胁持续存在时发展核武器，这将促使中国约束朝鲜，推动美国加强对韩国的核保护伞，同时也会提升韩国民众的安全信心。”

Last week’s joint fact sheet couched the subject in vague wording. The United States agreed to support “the process that will lead to” South Korea’s enrichment and reprocessing for peaceful uses, adding that such efforts should be subject to U.S. legal requirements and consistent with the existing bilateral treaty.

上周的联合情况说明对此问题的表述含糊其辞。美国同意支持韩国为和平目的开展铀浓缩和乏核燃料再处理的“相关进程”，同时表示此类行动需遵守美国法律要求，并符合现有双边条约。

The United States also agreed to seek “avenues to source fuel” for South Korean nuclear-powered subs, without clarifying where they would be built.

美国还同意为韩国核动力潜艇“寻找燃料供应渠道”，但未明确潜艇的建造地点。

“This is a Band-Aid solution,” said Lee Byong-chul, an analyst at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.

“这只是权宜之计，”首尔远东研究所分析师李炳哲（音）表示。

South Korea, a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, says it has no intention of producing atomic bombs. But calls for nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered subs have increased in South Korea in recent years as both North Korea’s nuclear weapons arsenal and its threats to use them have increased. In March, North Korea revealed the hull of what it said was its own nuclear-powered sub under construction.

作为《不扩散核武器条约》缔约国，韩国表示无意制造原子弹。但近年来，随着朝鲜核武器库规模扩大及核威胁升级，韩国国内呼吁发展核武器和核动力潜艇的声音日益高涨。今年3月，朝鲜公布了一艘它声称正在建造的国产核动力潜艇的艇体。

When President Lee met with President Trump on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific forum in South Korea last month, the South Korean leader emphasized that his country was a faithful ally that has committed to hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. investments and purchases of American weapons. Then he made his pitch.

上月，李在明总统在韩国举行的亚太论坛期间与特朗普会面时，强调韩国是美国的忠实盟友，已承诺对美投资数千亿美元并采购美国武器。随后他提出了自己的诉求。

“Our ability to chase submarines in waters near North Korea or China is limited because diesel-powered submarines lag behind in underwater capabilities,” Mr. Lee told Mr. Trump during the Oct. 29 summit. “If you approve the supply of fuel, we will use our own technologies to build several submarines carrying conventional weapons and use them to defend waters east and west of the Korean Peninsula. That would significantly lessen the burden on the U.S. military.”

“柴油动力潜艇的水下性能有限，我们在朝鲜或中国附近海域追踪潜艇的能力不足，”李在明在10月29日的峰会上对特朗普表示。“如果您批准燃料供应，我们将利用自主技术建造多艘搭载常规武器的潜艇，用于保卫朝鲜半岛东西两侧海域。这将显著减轻美军的负担。”

朝鲜官方媒体提供的一张照片显示，朝鲜领导人金正恩于3月视察某造船厂期间查看一艘核潜艇。

The next day, Mr. Trump surprised South Korean officials by announcing his approval for South Korea to build nuclear powered submarines. But he said South Korea would be building it “in the Philadelphia shipyards.”

次日，特朗普宣布批准韩国建造核动力潜艇，令韩国官员感到意外，但他表示，韩国将“在费城造船厂”建造这些潜艇。

Those shipyards — including Philly Shipyard, which the South Korean company Hanwha Ocean bought last year — don’t have facilities or engineers to build a nuclear-powered submarine. The U.S. industrial base is struggling even to meet the quota of two Virginia-class submarines per year set by the U.S. Navy. South Korea would have to spend years and billions of dollars to add new facilities in Philly Shipyard and clear a raft of U.S. regulatory hurdles if it decided to build its nuclear-powered submarines there and bring them home.

这些造船厂——包括韩国韩华海洋公司去年收购的费城造船厂——目前没有建造核动力潜艇的设施和工程师。美国的工业基础甚至难以完成美国海军设定的每年两艘弗吉尼亚级潜艇的生产指标。若韩国决定在费城造船厂建造核动力潜艇并将其运回国内，需花费数年时间和数十亿美元添加新设施，并通过美国的大量监管审批。

“All our talks were based on the precondition that South Korea will build its nuclear-powered submarines in South Korea,” Wi Sung-lac, Mr. Lee’s national security adviser, said Friday. “What we asked the United States for is cooperation in fuel supply.”

“我们所有的谈判都是基于韩国在本土建造核动力潜艇的前提，”李在明的国家安全顾问魏圣洛（音）周五表示。“我们向美国请求的是燃料供应方面的合作。”

But some analysts cautioned that building nuclear-powered submarines at home would also incur massive costs, which South Korea could better spend on acquiring other defense capabilities, such as unmanned underwater drones. At the cost of building one nuclear-powered submarine, South Korea can build several diesel subs, making them a more cost-effective option in guarding the relatively restricted boundary around the Korean Peninsula, they said.

但一些分析人士警告，本土建造核动力潜艇也将产生巨额成本，韩国将这些资金用于发展其他防御能力更为合理，比如水下无人航行器。他们表示，建造一艘核动力潜艇的成本足以建造多艘柴油动力潜艇，在保卫朝鲜半岛周边相对狭窄的海域时，传统动力潜艇是更具成本效益的选择。

Mr. Song, the former minister, said, “Let me put it this way — Which is more efficient in patrolling the crowded streets of Seoul: 10 Hyundai Sonata cars or one Mercedes-Maybach?”

前外长宋旻淳说：“这么说吧——在首尔拥挤的街道巡逻，10辆现代索纳塔轿车和一辆梅赛德斯-迈巴赫，哪个更高效？”