Office of the President: "Impression That Trump's Request for Warships Does Not Exclude Construction in Korea"

The Office of the President stated on July 9 (local time) that regarding U.S. President Donald Trump's request for warship construction, "We have the impression that building the ships in Korea is not being ruled out."

During President Lee Jae-myung's state visit to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, a senior official from the Office of the President made this remark in response to a reporter's question about whether there are ongoing discussions with the United States regarding the Trump administration's request for warship construction.

President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump are attending the official welcoming dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his spouse at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, on the 7th (local time). 2026.7.8 Yonhap News Agency

Under current U.S. law, American warships must be constructed within the United States. However, as President Trump requested from President Lee at last month's G7 Summit, there are observations that, in order to rapidly build 10 U.S. warships, the law would need to be relaxed or a new method of warship construction would have to be devised.

The senior official from the Office of the President explained, "There is the issue of how to address the current legal requirements," adding, "There may be multiple ways, so we need to determine which method is being proposed." Regarding the approach of manufacturing ship blocks in Korea and transporting them to the U.S. for assembly, the official elaborated, "Warships, naval support vessels, and merchant ships are all different, and the applicable laws also differ, so we need to investigate further."

The official further emphasized, "This is a cooperation we consider important," and stated, "Shipbuilding is an area where Korea and the U.S. need to invest, and with MASGA (Make American Shipbuilding Great Again) also in mind, we will pursue cooperation that meets expectations."

Previously, on July 7, President Lee met with President Trump at a dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his spouse during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Ankara, Turkey. At the event, the two leaders held follow-up discussions regarding the construction of warships in Korea.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.