Korea, US expects new nuclear agreement to strengthen ties
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, left, and U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz shake hands after signing a nuclear cooperation agreement in Washington D.C., Monday. / Yonhap
By Yi Whan-woo
Korea and the United States will strengthen their ties under a new civil nuclear cooperation agreement, according to senior officials from the two countries.
“We feel that this new agreement will upgrade our relations to a new height and ― thanks to this innovative, very much future-oriented agreement ― we will be able to work together in many new areas,” Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said after signing the deal with U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz in Washington D.C., Monday (local time).
Titled, “Agreement for Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of the United States of America Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy,” the revised version of the 1974 nuclear cooperation pact expands Korea’s commercial use of nuclear energy.
“This agreement solidifies that again as we enter a new phase of our cooperation,” Moniz said.
He added the deal will strengthen the Korea-U.S. partnership, which he called an “absolute anchor” for peace and stability in the region.
The new agreement will take effect by January next year at the latest if it is approved by the U.S. Congress.
Korea does not require the National Assembly’s ratification of the treaty.
The two countries reached a provisional agreement over their decades-long pact on April 22 in Seoul, putting an end to their negotiations that began in October 2010.
The original agreement had banned Korea to foreswear uranium enrichment and reprocessing.
The new deal allows Korea to use nuclear energy for peaceful purpose as a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
In particular, it allows Seoul rights to develop experimental reprocessing, called “pyroprocessing,” to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.
It also opens the door for Korea to enrich uranium with the U.S. consent to secure a stable supply of fuel and promote the building of nuclear power plants overseas.
“This will enable us to secure a stable supply of nuclear fuel and manage spent fuel more efficiently and there are many areas where we can collaborate together in third countries,” Yun said. “So this will give a big boost to Korean and American businesses as well.”
Seoul plans to make all possible efforts to convince U.S. lawmakers that the new bilateral pact on nuclear energy cooperation is a win-win deal, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.
“The government will concentrate efforts on making the case that the revised accord will benefit not only South Korea but also the U.S. through related hearings and seminars,” a source said.
Another source did not rule out the possibility of backlash from some members of Congress that advocate nonproliferation, as the "123 agreement" does not include the so-called Gold Standard provision for South Korea to forgo enrichment of uranium and reprocessing of plutonium.