Korea to soon begin talks with US on revising nuclear energy pact: FM Cho

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Thursday that Korea will soon begin talks with the United States on revising their bilateral nuclear energy pact to gain more flexibility in spent fuel reprocessing and uranium enrichment for civilian energy use. Cho made the remarks in a radio interview, referring to the "123 Agreement," under which Korea is allowed very limited spent fuel reprocessing and uranium enrichment below 20 percent, only with U.S. consent. Seoul has been seeking to renegotiate the agreement with Washington to be permitted to reprocess spent nuclear fuel and enrich uranium so that it can produce its own nuclear fuel for civilian energy purposes. "We operate 26 commercial nuclear reactors. There's no other country with this level of nuclear energy capacity that relies entirely on imported fuel," Cho said during the interview with MBC Radio. Cho said Seoul has "strongly" called for the need to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel based on the industrial standpoint. "That has been accepted, and we plan to begin negotiations soon," he said. The U.S. has maintained a cautiousWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times