Seoul seeks easing of nuclear restrictions at Lee-Trump summit

President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump / AFP-Yonhap

Speculation is rising that revising the Korea-U.S. nuclear energy agreement could be on the agenda at a leaders' summit in Washington on Monday (local time), as Seoul seeks to ease restrictions on spent nuclear fuel reprocessing.

The first in-person meeting between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump, which is expected to address a range of security issues, could also launch discussions on a potential revision of the key energy pact.

Korean officials reportedly coordinated on the issue during last-minute meetings with U.S. counterparts, including Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, who visited Washington on Thursday, and Trade Minister Kim Jung-kwan, who arrived the following day.

They held meetings with their respective counterparts, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

The talks have fueled speculation that amendments to the bilateral nuclear energy pact could appear in the summit's joint statement or be confirmed in remarks by the two leaders.

Known as the "123 Agreement," the pact governs peaceful nuclear cooperation and bars Seoul from enriching or reprocessing nuclear fuel — restrictions intended to prevent military use. The current agreement, revised in 2015 for the first time in 41 years, is valid until 2035, meaning negotiations for potential revision are being driven more by Seoul's demands than by the pact's expiration.

Under the current agreement, Korea can enrich uranium to below 20 percent only with U.S. consent, while reprocessing spent nuclear fuel is prohibited. Research into pyroprocessing, which is a method considered unsuitable for nuclear weapons production, is allowed with some limits.

Unlike Korea, Japan has the right to reprocess nuclear fuel under its bilateral agreement with the United States. Easing these restrictions, at least to a level similar to Tokyo's, has long been a central objective for Seoul.

The U.S. side has been reluctant to ease these restrictions, stressing Korea's commitment to the nonproliferation treaty.

A man walks past Unit 1 of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant in Busan, June 26. Yonhap

From Seoul's perspective, securing enrichment and reprocessing capabilities could help expand nuclear power exports and manage spent fuel, while also carrying strategic significance for countering North Korea's nuclear threat. Seoul currently relies on U.S. for extended deterrence against its nuclear-armed neighbor.

In the lead-up to the Lee-Trump summit, analysts in Seoul have claimed that demands to revise the pact could be used as a key bargaining chip for Seoul in response to Washington's pressure to shoulder more defense costs, as well as its financial contributions to the stationing of U.S. troops here.

Even if the upcoming summit results in an agreement to begin talks on revising the pact, observers say there is still a long way to go in technical negotiations, with uncertainty over whether Washington will fully back Seoul’s push to be allowed to complete the process of producing, using and managing nuclear fuel.

At a press briefing on Friday, National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said Korean officials are "seeking to use the occasion of this summit to achieve tangible progress on the matter," when asked about the nuclear energy agreement.

Earlier on Aug. 18, Foreign Minister Cho also pointed to nuclear energy enrichment and reprocessing as possible agenda items at the summit, but cautioned that linking them too closely to nuclear weapons development would complicate negotiations.

Calls to revise the bilateral nuclear pact have often been linked with domestic demands for Korea to pursue its own nuclear arsenal amid growing doubts about the reliability of U.S. extended deterrence.