South Korea, US in talks over possible summit announcement on 'nuclear energy pact' revision discussion

Seoul, Aug 24 (IANS) South Korea and the United States are considering the idea of announcing during next week's summit that they will launch discussions on a potential revision to a bilateral nuclear energy pact, a source said Saturday, as Seoul seeks to ease restrictions, including on spent fuel reprocessing.

Seoul and Washington have been coordinating over the issue, the source said, as President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump are set to hold their first in-person meeting at the White House on Monday, with a range of security and trade issues to be featured in the high-stakes summit, Yonhap News Agency reported.

If agreed upon by both sides, the two governments could include in a joint summit document an agreement to open discussions and research on a possible amendment to the pact, or leaders could make a public mention of the agreement to make it official.

Last revised in 2015, the pact, known as the "123 Agreement," bans Seoul from reprocessing and uranium enrichment. But it opened the way for South Korea to begin research into a new technology for spent nuclear fuel recycling, known as "pyroprocessing," in addition to making low-level enriched uranium under US consent.

The current pact is valid through 2035, but Seoul has repeatedly shown its desire to amend it.

South Korea has long hoped to secure uranium enrichment and reprocessing capabilities to complete the nuclear fuel cycle, as it views these capabilities as crucial to addressing its energy security and environmental concerns, and enhancing its status as a capable nuclear reactor exporter.

Washington has been cautious against lifting restrictions in the pact due largely to proliferation concerns, given that a reprocessing facility can be utilized to extract plutonium used to build nuclear weapons.

Unlike South Korea, Japan has a reprocessing right under a bilateral pact with the US.

Even if discussions on a revision get under way, it remains uncertain whether the Trump administration would warm to that idea.

Last week, Seoul's National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac pointed out that Seoul has long been making efforts toward revising the pact.

"Our hope is that we will make progress (in the effort to revise the pact) through this summit," he told reporters.

--IANS

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