SEOUL, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- South Korea is pushing for the development of nuclear submarines to cope with regional security threats, a Seoul newspaper said Monday.
"South Korea is considering deploying several 4,000-ton nuclear-powered submarines from 2012 as part of efforts to strengthen its defense against possible security threats from China, Japan and other nations in the region," Chosun Ilbo said, quoting an unnamed government source.
"The Defense Ministry and the Navy have been aggressively considering developing nuclear submarines since May last year," the government official was quoted as saying. The Navy formed a task force for the project in June, he said.
South Korea would become the sixth country to own nuclear submarines following the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China, the paper said.
The U.S. Forces Korea found out late last year and has been striving to get more details, it said.
Seoul's Defense Ministry denied the report, saying the nuclear submarines would violate Seoul's commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
