US President Donald Trump has announced, through his post on the Truth Social platform, that he has given the green light to South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine.

Trump, who is in town Gyeongju for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, he also said that Seoul agreed to buy large quantities of oil and natural gas from the US.

The American president and his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung they settled the details of a bilateral trade deal during their meeting yesterday.

Lee had also sought permission from the US for South Korea to reprocess nuclear fuel to power submarines so they could track North Korean and Chinese vessels for longer periods of time.

Under an agreement between the two states, South Korea has no right to reprocess without US consent.

“I have given them approval to build a nuclear powered submarine, instead of the outdated and much less versatile diesel powered submarines they have now”Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.