S. Korea, US begin talks on Seouls demand for spent fuel reprocessing

South Korea and the United States Monday began formal talks on renewing a civilian nuclear pact as Seoul wants to reprocess spent nuclear fuel due to a lack of storage facilities, Yonhap News Agency reported.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said, "The United States and the Republic of Korea have begun discussions on writing a new civil-nuclear cooperation agreement."

The Korean delegation is led by Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Cho Hyun.

The South Korea-U.S. nuclear agreement, signed in 1974 and valid until 2014, bans Seoul from enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel.