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In other news...
Seoul and Washington have been holding more discussions on revising their bilateral nuclear
cooperation treaty.
As an atomic power exporter, Seoul hopes to revise related articles to be able to reprocess
nuclear waste, but the U.S. is opposed.
Park Ji-won has more on the thorny negotiations.
According to Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's Ambassador for the Korea-U.S.
Nuclear Cooperation Park Ro-byug, and his U.S. counterpart Robert Einhorn, recently
met in Washington, to talk about revising the current nuclear energy pact between the
two countries, which was last amended back in the mid-1970s.
The current agreement bans South Korea from reprocessing nuclear waste.
Korea's current nuclear waste facility is expected to reach its capacity in 2016.
Seoul wants to be able to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel to solve the
problem of storing spent fuel, and to recycle nuclear energy.
However, the U.S. reportedly stuck to its stance that South Korea should not be allowed
to reprocess nuclear fuel, on the grounds of its non-proliferation policy, and the possibility
it could negatively affect the North Korean nuclear issue.
The current agreement is set to expire in March, 2014, but both countries are looking
to reach an agreement before the expiration date.
As the two countries did not come away with any clear, concrete results in this round
of negotiations, the revision of the pact will likely be one of the most pressing issues
facing the incoming Park Geun-hye administration.
Park Ji-won, Arirang News.