President Lee Jae Myung speaks with US President Donald Trump during an official welcome dinner for leaders attending the NATO summit, hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and first lady Emine Erdogan at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey, on Tuesday. (Pool Photo via Yonhap) ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — Seoul was left with the impression that the Trump administration may be open to having some US naval vessels built in South Korea, a senior presidential official said Thursday, as the two countries continue to explore ways to expand cooperation in naval shipbuilding.“For now, we have the impression that building something in South Korea is not being ruled out, but we need to look into that further,” the senior official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We still need to understand what kind of arrangement the US side has in mind.”The remarks came after President Lee Jae Myung’s brief meeting with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday during a reception and official banquet hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and first lady Emine Erdogan for NATO leaders and partners.Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday that Lee and Trump agreed to launch follow-up working-level consultations on Trump’s proposal to accelerate US naval shipbuilding with the help of South Korean shipbuilders.The issue was first raised during their meeting at the G7 summit in Evian, France, last month. After the summit, Lee disclosed that Trump had specifically asked whether South Korea could quickly build 10 American warships, to which Lee responded that South Korea would do its utmost to help.The unnamed official said the discussion was still preliminary, noting that the exchange between Lee and Trump took place briefly while the two leaders were standing at the banquet.“Because it was a brief conversation held while standing at a dinner, the details do not necessarily fit together perfectly as a whole, but are rather fragmented,” the official said.“So I think we need to flesh this out through further working-level consultations, identify the gaps and fill in what we do not yet know,” the official added.The official explained that one of the key issues is how to work around or resolve obstacles under current law.“There may be room for the (US) president to grant waivers, and there seem to be various possible ways, but it appears to be related to Congress,” the official said. “So we need to better understand what kind of arrangement the US side has in mind.”The official explained that US law differs depending on whether a vessel is a warship, a military support vessel or a commercial-type vessel that supports the military, and that the legal provisions that apply can vary depending on the type of ship.“We need to examine all of that,” the official added.The main legal obstacles are the Burns-Tollefson Amendment, which bars US warships from being built overseas, and the Jones Act, which protects US-built ships in domestic maritime trade.The official said further working-level consultations would be needed to gain a clearer understanding of exactly what Trump had in mind.“We had hoped to hold more detailed discussions between working-level officials on site during the NATO summit, but the US side was preoccupied with developments in the Middle East and did not have the time to engage in extensive talks with us,” the official said.“Once we return to Seoul and the US team returns to Washington, we plan to gain a better understanding of the proposal through additional consultations.”The official underscored that shipbuilding remains an “important area of cooperation” for Seoul, given South Korea’s world-class shipbuilding capabilities and its investment commitments in the US.Under the leader-level joint fact sheet agreement, South Korea committed to a $350 billion strategic investment package in the US, including $150 billion dedicated to the Make American Shipbuilding Great Again, or MASGA, initiative aimed at revitalizing the US shipbuilding industry.The official said Seoul intends to pursue a form of cooperation that meets US expectations in response to Trump’s request regarding naval shipbuilding.“Then coordination between allies will be strengthened, and investment can proceed smoothly,” the official said. “Korea-US relations can also be further developed. There could also be economic benefits.”