South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo (left) and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker pose for a photo before their talks at the State Department in Washington. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) South Korea and the United States will begin formal talks next week on security initiatives stemming from last year's summit agreements, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Friday, and likely address Seoul's push for nuclear-powered submarines and expanded nuclear fuel-cycle capabilities.The two allies will convene a two-day inaugural meeting in Seoul Tuesday and Wednesday to launch formal follow-up consultations on the security commitments outlined in the Joint Fact Sheet adopted after the October 2025 summit between President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump, according to the ministry. It would mark the first structured negotiations on a series of ambitious initiatives expected to range from nuclear-powered submarines to expanded civilian nuclear cooperation.The meeting will serve as the inaugural session of a broader consultation framework aimed at translating the leaders' agreements into concrete policy measures.South Korea's delegation led by First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo will include officials from the presidential office, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.The US delegation will be headed by Allison Hooker, under secretary of state for political affairs, and include officials from the White House National Security Council, the State Department, the Department of Energy and the Defense Department.Following the kickoff meeting, the two countries are expected to establish working groups to conduct more detailed negotiations on individual agenda items.The talks come as Seoul seeks to accelerate the implementation of several long-standing strategic goals that would require US approval or cooperation.South Korea recently unveiled a basic plan for developing nuclear-powered submarines, but would need a separate agreement with Washington to secure nuclear fuel supplies from the US. Discussions are also expected to address where such submarines would be built.According to diplomatic sources, Seoul prefers domestic construction, while Washington has traditionally favored building the vessels in the United States. One diplomatic source said the US appears increasingly open to the possibility of construction taking place in South Korea.Another key issue will be possible revisions to the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement, known as the 123 Agreement, which currently does not grant South Korea advance consent to enrich uranium or reprocess spent nuclear fuel.Discussions are expected to focus on whether the agreement should be partially amended or comprehensively revised, as well as what level of uranium enrichment Washington may be willing to permit.Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Thursday that Seoul hopes to move quickly to revise the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement while advancing cooperation on nuclear-powered submarines and shipbuilding."The two sides have been working closely to ensure that the inaugural meeting produces substantive progress," Cho said.Seoul officials have expressed hopes to institutionalize the consultations through a regular bilateral mechanism to accelerate progress on the security initiatives during Trump's current term.The Joint Fact Sheet outlines a broad set of commitments spanning security, economic and industrial cooperation, including South Korea's pledge to invest $350 billion in the United States as part of a package that secured lower US tariff rates on Korean exports.The kickoff meeting had initially been expected earlier this year but was delayed as Washington focused on other priorities, including the Middle East conflict, Foreign Ministry officials noted.US officials have also voiced concerns over delays in Seoul's efforts to implement its pledged investment package, while separately raising issues related to what some in Washington view as the discriminatory treatment of American companies operating in South Korea. The concerns have been amplified by the ongoing investigation into e-commerce giant Coupang over a major data leak, as well as a letter sent earlier this year by 54 Republican lawmakers to South Korean Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha, which alleged that US firms were being unfairly targeted by Korean regulators and law enforcement authorities.A Foreign Ministry official said Washington continues to mention those issues but has not presented them as formal negotiating conditions, adding that the overall atmosphere has improved.In a statement announcing Hooker's visit, the State Department said she would lead an interagency delegation to advance the "nuclear cooperation initiatives" agreed to by Trump during his visit to South Korea last year.During her planned trip to Korea, Hooker will also discuss a broad range of bilateral and global issues with South Korean counterparts aimed at strengthening the alliance's security and economic cooperation."The US-ROK Alliance remains the linchpin of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the Indo-Pacific region," the department said, referring to South Korea by the acronym for its official name, the Republic of Korea.