By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

South Korea plans to form an inter-ministry task force to prepare for planned talks with the United States regarding a nuclear pact signed in 1974, the nation's top diplomat said Monday.

During a National Assembly committee session, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan said South Korea will make a case for the need to expand ``peaceful and commercial'' use of nuclear energy in upcoming negotiations with the U.S. aimed at revising the nuclear pact.

He said his ministry will prepare for commencement of the negotiations possibly late this year and that the agenda would include pyro-processing of spent nuclear materials.

Seoul and Washington are scheduled to discuss the nuclear accord as its expiration in 2014 approaches. Under the current accord, South Korea is not allowed to reprocess spent nuclear fuels.

South Korea vowed not to enrich uranium or equip reprocessing facilities in the Inter-Korean Declaration of Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in 1992. The commitment at the time was made to discourage Pyongyang from seeking a nuclear weapons program to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

The issue of South Korea's expanding peaceful uses of nuclear power, specifically spent fuel, was rekindled lately among governing Grand National Party (GNP) lawmakers as bilateral talks to revise the nuclear pact nears.

Advocates said if South Korea is allowed to reprocess nuclear material, about 95 percent can be recycled as an energy source and only 5 percent will become waste.

The country imports 97 percent of its energy requirement, and 20 reactors in the nation provide almost 40 percent of South Korea's electricity.

According to the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, the nation uses 4,000 tons of uranium annually, supplied from overseas and about 700 tons of waste are produced.

Experts expressed worries about the piling up of nuclear waste, saying the country's storage facilities will reach capacity by 2016.

Washington, however, stood firm on the stance of not allowing South Korea to reprocess nuclear spent fuel.

Ellen Tauscher, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, said in a Congressional hearing last month that ``programmatic consent'' for reprocessing given to the EU, Japan and India under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 cannot be extended to South Korea.

Spent nuclear fuel and enriched uranium can be used to produce nuclear bombs, and therefore the international community is concerned about the consequence of allowing nations to reprocess nuclear spent fuel.

South Korean politicians have said that the country needs it for commercial purposes.

In an effort to avoid unnecessary misconception about Seoul's motive, Rep. Park Jin, chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee, said clarification should be made on several sensitive terms such as ``nuclear state'' and ``peaceful use of nuclear energy.''

Foreign Minister Yu said people use the term nuclear state to refer to various statuses, so it's safe to say that the term needs to be interpreted in the right context.

To better prepare for the bilateral negotiations, Rep. Park said his Assembly committee would set up a sub-panel to craft foreign policy strategy.

``The subcommittee members will discuss peaceful use of nuclear energy in a serious manner,'' said the chairman.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr