By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
South Korea is moving to hold behind-the-scenes discussions with the United States in a bid to amend an agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy.
Second Vice Foreign Minister Chun Yung-woo is scheduled to meet senior U.S. officials who deal with nuclear-related issues in Washington, Monday, ministry officials said. They include Ellen Tauscher, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.
Chun will exchange views on the bilateral agreement concerning atomic energy and the Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty slated for May, the officials said.
In particular, the vice minister will explain the government's firm stance on nuclear non-proliferation and difficulties involved with keeping spent nuclear fuel.
The accord regarding civil uses of atomic energy bans the nation from reprocessing spent atomic energy as a measure against its possible use for military purposes.
It expires in 2014 and negotiations between the two countries are expected to begin in the first half of this year at the earliest to amend the pact.
Cho Hyun, chief negotiator and deputy foreign minister of multilateral and global affairs, will participate in a preliminary meeting for the Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands next month.
He will meet with his U.S. counterpart Gary Samore, who serves as White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction, to discuss the amendment issue, the officials said.
Those moves are also construed as part of efforts to smoothly proceed with a contract Korea signed with the United Arab Emirates to build four nuclear power plants in the Middle East nation.
Last Month, a South Korean consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corp won a $20 billion deal, the biggest single contract the country has ever won abroad.
"Once the U.S.-Korea and U.S-UAE nuclear cooperation agreements are valid, the country can smoothly proceed with the deal," a ministry official said, requesting anonymity. "But the agreement between Korea and the United States will be extended in the worst-case scenario, which will not affect the country's ability to fulfill the contract."
With its nuclear technology, Seoul plans to have the first nuclear reactor start supplying power to the UAE grid in 2017 and the remaining three operating by 2020.
Korea first introduced atomic power in 1978 and currently has 20 nuclear plants in operation.